Sonic eXcluded
by Airo Smicktor
Summary: Sonic X adaptation - Sonic meets someone else when he falls into the Thorndyke pool, someone vastly different from Chris, why? Because Chris died a year before Sonic appeared...
1. Enter the Unlikely Friend

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

Written by Airo Smicktor

Disclaimer: The following story is a piece of fan-fiction that features many of the characters that have featured in the Sonic the Hedgehog computer game series and the cartoon series Sonic X. These characters are property of, and either trademarks or registered trademarks of SEGA CORPORATION, as well as, but not limited to SEGA, SONICTEAM and SONIC Project. I do not claim any ownership over these characters or the episodes they are featured in. I, Airo Smicktor, do however claim ownership of this fan-fiction; it's title, the subsequent chapters of it, the character of Douglas Thorndyke and the name Airo Smicktor. Please also be aware that this fan-fiction is no representation of the characters used in it. They are being placed in fictitious circumstances and situations, which would never occur in the actual computer games series, and their actions are only based on my own personal views on what characters would do in these positions. That is why this is called a fan- fiction: It is a made-up story written by a fan of the characters used in it, which is just expressing his enjoyment of the characters used. By choosing to view this fan-fiction, you agree that you will not remove or edit any part or this entire story and then claim that it is your own work. Such stealing is damaging to the truthful internet fans who love reading original works featuring well-known characters, and is much like stealing someone's writing in real life and publishing it yourself. You also pay homage to the fact that I am so making your life better by removing 99 of Chris from this fic. You also agree that you understand that there is no serious or intentional breach of copyright occurring here. Besides, you are the one who choose to view this, I did not send it to you, so if I am 'breaking the law', so are you my friend! Also by viewing this, you agree that you understand the difference between fact and fiction, and you understand the events that occur here will not occur in the actual television series or in real life. I cannot be held reasonable if you cannot tell that difference.

Author notes for Fic: This is a fan-fiction based on the popular cartoon show spin off of the Sonic the Hedgehog video-game series called Sonic X. I've heard many people say that the worse part of Sonic X is Chris Throndyke (especially after his actions on the last few episodes), so what if the events of Sonic X happened, and Sonic and his friends met up with the Throndyke family, but Chris wasn't there? What if they met someone who wasn't exactly as cheerful as Chris would have been, and how would their adventures change without Chris? This is Sonic X as you'd never imagined it before, and it's not as nice...

* * *

Episode Prelude: 

"Sonic!" exclaimed the worried voice of the rounded man holding the red Chaos Emerald. He saw the figure of his blue hedgehog nemesis walk out of the smoking remains of what was just a split-second ago a reinforced blast door into his control room. All that was left was the cocky smirk on his face, and slowly fading glow from his clentched fist. A Power Ring. Sonic had used its power to break into his complex. But that power was fading.

Quickly the man's expression changed to an evil grin. "Heh, too late!" Dr. Eggman quickly inserted the emerald into his 'Energy Amplifier' and rapidly pressed a selection of buttons on the machine, before holding what looked to a simple push-button switch. "You'll never stop me now Sonic! Huh-Huh! All I have to do is push this little button! HAHAHAHA!" The Doctor laughed evily, firmly believing he had the upper hand.  
Sonic simply smirked. "Yeah... If you can push it before I grab it!"  
Eggman now had a worried look upon his face, as well as what looked to be a small sweat-drop on his head. Eggman was almost frozen in fear as he looked over at the hedgehog standing in the light. That was, until a robot armed with double machine guns appeared behind Sonic and cast a shadow over the hedgehog.. E-13. "Heh...Why don't you give it a try?" Eggman diabolically smiled.

Sonic knew that look, so instinctively ran out of the way, just missing a barrage of gun fire from behind. Sonic began racing around the room, running up the walls, directing the gun fire away from Cream and Cheese, who were still held captive in that oversized 'item- box' container.  
"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY" Eggman roared, as he urged on his robotic gun- turret. The machine was so intent on carrying out his master's orders that it nearly hit a bat that was surveying the action from a high up ledge. "STOP HIM! No matter what!" Eggman shouted again.

Suddenly, Sonic dropped right in front of Eggman. E-13 then turned and pointed it's guns at Sonic. "Ah! NO! Hold your fire!" Eggman waved at his creation, but it was too late. Sonic leapt upwards at the same time that Eggman ducked, and a barrage of laser-bullet instantly followed that sailed over the cowering Doctor's head, and into the Energy Amplifier. Eggman looked at the button in his hand. He had pressed it in a reflex motion while ducking. "Ah! Here we go!" Eggman stated, before looking at the machine he'd activated. Sparks of electricity were visible around the bullet holes in the main glass cylinder. You didn't need an IQ of 300 to guess that this wasn't good news. "AHHH!" The Doctor exclaimed. "What have you done?" He roared at E-13, as the tube of the machine behind him turned into a pillar of pure white light. The people in the room all stared in wonder at the light, as it began to expand, and soon the whole tower and base of Doctor Eggman had disappeared in a white dome of light.

* * *

Far way from the scene, two furries, one a pink female hedgehog, the other a yellow male kitsune, stared in wonder at the sight before them, as a red echidna stood with his arms crossed over his chest next to them, with an icy look upon his face.  
"What...Is that?" the hedgehog asked in shock and wonder.  
"Chaos Control." The echidna replied in an emotionless tone, as if he had been expecting something bad to come out of this all along, as the light expanded and the three of them also disappeared into the light.

* * *

**Episode 1** – **Enter the Unlikely Friend**

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* * *

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Part 1: 

Station Square. Early evening. A fine night with almost no breeze, a perfect night for any late going shoppers to go about the streets, and it showed. The sidewalks were almost completely covered by the feet of hustling people as they travelled away and from the city centre, accompanied by fast-moving traffic in both directions. A normal, peaceful day in the Square. The last peaceful day for a very long time unfortunately. A series of events would rock and change the entire globe, and bring two different universes together into one, as well as effect the life of one person forever.

The bright lights from the shop windows and the street lights lit up the streets and the faces of the people in them. The light seemed to reach every nook, and every corner of the buildings around, and flowed down the many alleyways that branched off the main street. But not even man-made light can reach every part of the world, evident by a darkened dead-end corner of a lengthy alley, the end simply known as '4GOT10 Corner'. The brick walls were covered by graffiti, as was some of the broken paving on the ground. Trashcans stood still near the walls, as did the small black bin bags next to them. The quiet here was blood chilling, as evident by the lack of any life. All bar one. In the far corner, furthest away from the activeness of the streets, one lone soul sat. Not huddled, not cowering, just sitting. Embracing, breathing in the dark around him, living it.

To say that this was not the normal way to spend a Friday night would be a major understatement; to say that this wasn't the normal way to spend any night would make a bit more sense, but still would be well off the mark. Yet this was a life that he decided to live, for the short time that he did. A life of mystery, a life of shadow, a life on the streets, in the streets, as the streets. This wasn't long-term, it wasn't as if this would forever by his 'fate', for he knew of the other life that was waiting for him when he went back 'home' tonight, his second name was evidence enough. That made no difference to him though, for this was his own personal freedom. For usually five days a week (weather permitting and not counting other factors) he could be free from the other life, from the money, from the clothes, from the attention. Here, he had what so many could want, yet never have. Respect. He walked down the streets with no fear, no worries, and could spend hours in the darkest areas of the city with no one approaching him. Unless they were new to the city, stupid, foolhardy, really brave, or from his 'family'. The latter was most common nowadays.

The figure still sat, as he slowly looked down at his wristwatch as he pressed a button on the side. The electronic display glowed a bright lime- green in the darkness as he studied the time. It was time to head back. 'Time really flies when your avoiding fun...' he joked in his head as he slowly stood up, and headed forward towards the faint lights of the main street, idly kicking a drinks can away into the way ahead. The faint light grew with every step, until the visible forms of life could be recognised ahead. The alleyway connected with the street visibly with a change of clean paving stones. The figure stepped out into it, and took a careful look around.

Anyone watching him would clearly see him, and everyone not would be tempted to start, since he stood out so much. Clad almost completely in black leather, from his boots to his jeans to his jacket, with the only signs of colour being the faint whiteness in his face, hair and hands. The signs of someone who enjoyed keeping away from the sunshine that regularly shined down on the city during the day. His eyes were a strangely bright purple, which contrasted completely with his look, apart from his hair. This obviously wasn't a 'normal' person, which stood out in this normal city. Here, you had to do something different, since nothing ever happened. The city was the most peaceful in the country, probably even in the world. In the last year, there'd only been one arrest. One! If you liked to live a thrill-free life, then this was the city to be in. Excitement only existed in dictionaries here. That wasn't the life for him, but then again, what was? That was the question he was trying to answer, and had been for years. That was part of the reason for this 'temporary street life' that he did. It made him someone, it made him something, and it made him... Forgotten...

He moved up over to the edge of the sidewalk, and thrust his arm up in the air, clicking his fingers in the air. "TAXI!" He called out, as a yellow cab pulled up to where he was standing. He opened up the back door nearest to him and got inside the cab. He closed the door as the cab driver turned around.

"Okay, where... Hey! 4GOT10! How's it goin'?"  
"Heh, not bad Kaufman, not bad."  
"Is it the usual place?"  
"Friday night, at this time? You knows it."  
"Okay! Thorndyke residence it is then! And I guess I'll have to refer to you as 'Mr. Thorndyke' right now, huh?"  
"Yeah, at least until the weekend's over again..." With that said, Kaufman turned back around, and pulled the car out back onto the road, and headed off down the street.

* * *

Flip Card 1 - '4GOT10'

Full Real Name: Douglas Smicktor- Throndyke  
Nickname(s): '4GOT10' (Pronounced 'Forgotten' )  
Gender: Male  
Age: 24  
Likes: Ice Cream, Rain, living by his own rules  
Dislikes: Being controlled, failure, his foster-family  
Identifying features: Purple hair, purple eyes, usually wears black clothing, doesn't look friendly.

* * *

Flip Card 2 - 'Sonic the Hedgehog'

Full Real Name: Maurice Theodore Hedgehog  
Nickname(s): Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic, The Blue Blur, Sonikku  
Gender: Male  
Age: 15  
Likes: Chilidogs, freedom, running  
Dislikes: Dr. Eggman, anything slow moving, having fan-girls cling onto him  
Identifying features: Blue hedgehog, red and white sneakers, is unrivalled in speed.

* * *

Part 2:

The taxi had been travelling through the busy streets for about 20 minutes or so, due to the heavy traffic that clogged up the roads in Station Square. It wasn't uncommon, so it helped if you had a lot of patience. Douglas knew that it would still be a while before they even reached what he liked to call the 'rich-kids' part of the city where the Thorndyke residence resided, and his secure home. Even with his patience, it didn't change the fact that he was bored.

"Hey man, turn the radio up, I need to hear some noise!"  
"No problem! Anything for the baddest man in Station Square!" Kaufman replied, switching the radio up. The speakers began to vibrate slightly as the radio churned into life.  
"...Okay people, time to turn your speakers up for this one! If you don't like to rock, then you're listening to the wrong station! You're tuned into Rock Square, and this is Papercut by Linkin Park!" came the voice of the DJ.  
The passenger in the back smiled as the slow hip-hop beat ofthe songstated up, quickly turning into the heavy guitar and bass line of the main track. He air drummed along to the drum beat of the track, not noticing that the car he was in had suddenly been caught up in a traffic jam, as he mouthed along to the words.

Kaufman lowered the door window and stared down the street, to try and see what the hold-up was. He couldn't really get a good look that far away, but there appeared to be something standing in the middle of the road.

Kaufman again looked ahead, and thought he could see what looked to be two police officers standing next to the thing in the road. He still wasn't sure what is was, but it seemed to be... blue...

"Hey! What's goin' on down there?" Kaufman called out to another cab that was nearer the scene.  
"Some joker dressed up like a big blue hedgehog is messin' around with the cops! It's holding up all the traffic! There's about five cops trying to deal with it!"  
"Why aren't we movin' then?"  
" 'Cuz this guy's real fast movin', even in that weird costume!"

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Douglas asked as he winded down his door window and looked out his window.  
"Some joker I think, but they've got cops on it, so it's all good."  
"Heh, wouldn't be so confident, the cops here haven't had much practice in enforcement since there's been no crime."  
"Yeah, not since your Uncle arrested that guy with his F1 car on the highway!"  
"Step-Uncle, remember, Step-Uncle."

"Wow! That's some neat trick the kid does!" called out the cabbie up ahead.  
"What now?" Douglas called back, in a slightly annoyed tone.  
"The guy just jumped outta the way of a four-cop pile-on!"  
Douglas whistled. 'Damn, that's fast!' He thought, 'They must make some real heavy steroids nowadays...'

"Hey! One of the cops just caught the guy in a butterfly net!"  
"Nice! Then we can get movin' again!" Kaufman replied to the other cabbie

"DAMN! LOOK OUT!" The cabbie ahead called, pulling his head swiftly into his taxi. Instinctively, Kaufman and Douglas did the same, briefly seeing what looked to be a capture net pulling five police officers down the white line that separated the lines of traffic. Douglas quickly stuck his head out again, and saw the net seem to jump through a police car that was side- on towards the rest of the traffic, dragging the cops into the car and squashing them inside like sardines in a tin.

"Attention all Units! Attention all Units!" came the distinctively Irish voice over the radio-receiver of the taxi. "A blue hedgehog is heading north on Central Street! Shut down all thoroughfares leading into and out of Station Square! And set up a road block just before the on-ramp to 101!"

"Did... you just hear that Mr. Throndyke?"

"Yeah... A blue hedgehog..."

"The cops must be in a big hurry to catch it if they didn't bother just keeping that signal to the police line... Hey! We're moving!" Kaufman turned his attention back to the road ahead as the car line began to move off. Douglas kept his head out the window as the taxi drove off again.

'About time some action starting happening around here' he thought to himself, smirking. 'If this thing is really fast, then I better give my favourite Step-Uncle a call tomorrow...'

* * *

After about another half an hour, the yellow taxi pulled up outside the imposing gates of a large mansion and estate, clearly identifiable by the large letters above the gate that read: 'THORNDYKE'. Douglas stepped out of the cab and walked to the drivers' window where he handed over the fare he owed to Kaufman.  
"Remember, keep the change buddy!"  
"That's the reason why you're my best customer Mr. Thorndyke! See ya later!"  
"Will do!" Douglas replied, as he turned and walked over to the gates as the cab pulled away into the night. 

Douglas pulled out a small, rectangular piece of plastic from an inside pocket in his jacket and pushed into a small slot in a panel on the pillar at the side of the gate. A small light on the panel turned from red to green, and Douglas took the card back out as a small door section in the gate opened up. Douglas walked through it, and watched as the door closed and relocked itself. Security had to be tight around the Thorndyke house. Douglas turned and began walking over towards the large mansion of the residence. Even though he rarely admitted it, being adopted into a successful family does have its advantages on occasions. From where he was standing by the gate, it wasn't that far a distance to walk, so it wouldn't take long to reach the house.

**SPLASH! **

Douglas quickly took a defensive stance as he scanned around for the source of the noise. He then noticed a large 'pillar' of water that seemed to come out from the pool area at the back of the house. It was large enough to be seen from over the roof. Something must have either fallen from the roof into the pool, or Chuck had been trying to make his own explosives again. Douglas wasn't taking any chances, as he pulled out his special 'fighting gloves' from his jean pocket and slipped them onto his hands as he broke into a sprint to head around the house. Douglas cautiously stuck his head around the corner as he looked around the pool area. There didn't seem to be anyone around, but the sensor-light had been activated, which meant that someone was still here or had been here. Carefully, he walked slowly out from behind the corner and moved out into the open. He looked towards the main 'adult' pool. Bubbles were popping on the surface. Air bubbles. Someone was down there. Douglas pulled off his jacket and tossed it towards the house. Time to get his feet wet.

* * *

Sonic ran. His feet spun rapidly in the common motion of running as he looked intently towards the ladder at the far side of the pool from him. It was no use. Water was his greatest weakness, and he had no idea how to swim. 'This is not cool!' He thought as he allowed himself to float back down to the bottom of the pool as he sat down with his arms crossed, in a sort of angry yet 'huffy' look. 'I beat that 'S-Team' dude, only to beaten by falling into a pool? I guess it's fine that no-one will ever know about...' Sharply Sonic's thoughts were broken by the sound of crashing above him. He looked up to see what looked to be another of those strange things that he'd seen before in the street. Sonic noticed that it seemed surprised to see him. 'I guess people don't like hedgehogs crash-landing into their pools...' Sonic became surprised himself when the creature pulled Sonic by the arm up from the bottom of the pool, and up to the surface of the water. 

The blue hedgehog was on his hands and knees, coughing. Beside him, the creature that had pulled him from the water was watching the hedgehog, making sure he was all right.

'Shit... I didn't think hedgehogs were aquatic animals, and this proves it.' Douglas thought to himself, looking at the straggly blue hedgehog. "You alright buddy?" he asked verbalily

"Yeah, I'll be fine, water isn't my style..." the hedgehog replied. Replied?  
"Whoa! You can talk?"  
"...I can do a lot of things!" the hedgehog replied  
"Damn! You're something else!" the purple-haired creature replied, smiling. "My name's Douglas. I assume you've got a name too?"

The hedgehog smiled back. "Of course I have a name! I'm Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog!"

* * *

Next Episode Preview: Voiceover by Douglas

"Yesterday, I saved a Hedgehog from drowning in the pool, but today, I'm helping him to storm the most secure military base in the country! And for what? To save a rabbit and a 'Chao'! What the heck is going on around here? Now my step-grand-father is in on this as well! This could mean a lot of trouble...

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: '**A Happy Reunion?**' Don't miss it!"

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Author Notes: That the first chapter of my adaptation of Sonic X up and running! Firstly, I WON'T be putting up all these song lyrics in every chapter, they were just put here to mark the beginning of this fan-fic (apart from Papercut, that was a mood/tone setter for Douglas). Secondly, Douglas Smicktor -Throndyke (4GOT10) is the main human character here, just like Chris was in Sonic X. His character is the human form of my furry fan-character Douglas Smicktor, who fits in well with the story so that's why I'm using him. His character will be exposed more future chapters. Thirdly, this fic will be taking the original storylines of Sonic X, adapting them, changing them, and maybe even putting new stuff in as well. All your fave characters will still be there, and for the Chris fans out there - Don't worry, Chris does feature in this, but in a very different way... 

So, do you like what you've read? Please send in your reviews and R&R (Flamers will be ignored). You'll get namechecked in this bit as well, so why not hit the button to review? This is Airo Smicktor with another fan-fic for the masses! (Oh, and this one will stay up unlike TRotF, which I removed because it sucked).

_N.B. Edited on 19-11-04 for paragraphing  
Edited 01/05/05 - All Song lyrics have been removed as par the rules of FanFiction-dot-net._


	2. A Happy Reunion?

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

Written by Airo Smicktor

I don't own Sonic X or other characters like that. I do own Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke.

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Episode Prelude:

"Oh this entire movie shoot has been a complete disaster! We haven't been able to shoot another scene for days because of all this torrential rainfall! I don't think that I'll be back until late next week at the earliest! But don't worry, I've been able to do LOTS of shopping and I've bought you lots of presents to make up for it! I've sent them on daddy's jet, so you should have them by tonight!"  
"Aww, Mom! You don't have to do this for me! But before I forget, I have to tell you something, you see... I kinda did something that I promised you that I wouldn't..."  
"Oh my goodness, Douglas are you alright?" the voice from the telephone asked.  
"Of course I am Mom, you know I can look after myself! It's just that... well... You remember when you made me promise that I wouldn't go swimming late at night in the main pool in case something happened?" Douglas said, holding the phone to his ear as a smartly dressed butler came onto the balcony that Douglas was standing on with a tray of breakfast food, before placing it on the table and leaving without a word.  
"You went swimming in the adult pool by yourself at midnight again?"  
"No! NO! Not like that, no! You see..." Douglas looked up to the roof, where Sonic was stretched out. The blue hedgehog was watching Douglas through a half-closed eye.  
'Think fast, think fast!' Douglas thought to himself.  
"...A cat fell into the pool, so I dived in to save it!"  
"Oh you have such a big heart, just like I do! But ring Mr. Tanaka next time to sort it out okay? I'm sorry, but I must hurry along now, kiss Mommy goodbye!"  
The sound of a person kissing was heard through the 'phone speaker. Reluctantly, Douglas gave the mouthpiece of the 'phone he was holding a quick peck in return.  
"Bye sweetheart!" was the reply as the caller hanged-up.

"Yuck!" Douglas said, wiping his mouth with the back of his free hand as Sonic jumped off the roof and onto the barrier that surrounded the edge of the balcony.  
"Take a good look! I'm a hedgehog, not a cat!" Sonic said, pointing at himself.  
"I know, I know! But what was I supposed to say? 'Oh, by the way Mom, a giant blue taking hedgehog called Sonic who resisted arrest fell into my pool last night and now he's hiding in the house until he finds his way home.'" Douglas said sarcastically, arching an eyebrow to Sonic's statement. "Amazing I don't think she'd be too pleased with that somehow..."  
"...How come?" Sonic asked, puzzled.  
"Okay, I think I need to give you a crash course in Earth hedgehogs Sonic." Douglas said, pulling out a chair from under the table and sitting on it. "On Earth, this planet by the way, hedgehogs are about so high," Douglas made a small space between his hands, one above the other, "about so wide," Douglas moved his hands so that his hands were parallel to each other but horizontally, "are brown, don't wear sneakers or gloves, oh and what was the other thing?" he asked rhetorically. "Oh yes, they can't talk!" He said in mock surprise. "That reminds me, when did you learn how to talk anyway?"  
Sonic rubbed his head with one of his gloved fingers as he sat in thought. "That's a good question, unfortunately I don't have a good answer. I don't remember that far back..."

Suddenly the 'phone in Douglas' hand began to ring. "That's probably Dad, don't talk Sonic!" Douglas told the still thinking hedgehog as he answered the 'phone. "Hello?"  
"Chris? Is everything alright?" came the concerned voice from the 'phone.  
"Everything's cool Dad! How are you?"  
"I'm fine, but your mother just called and told me that you had to make an emergency rescue last night! I guess our security system can't protect you against stray cats that decide they want to have a midnight swim!" Sonic still sat on the railing, with a weird look on his face, as he tried to make sense of what all the fuss was about. "Douglas, I know you like to be a 'free spirit' and like animals, but what you did was very dangerous! Were you hurt? Did the cat scratch you while you were trying to save it?"  
Douglas shook his head with a smile on his face. "Of course not Dad, you know that I've been through worse things than any old scratch could do. Besides, it's not as if it was the hardest thing in the world to do," Douglas looked over to Sonic, who seemed to be cleaning out his ear with his finger. Douglas shot Sonic another eyebrow, as if to say: 'Do you mind, I'm trying to get my Step-Parents off my back here!' "All I did was help a little cat out of the water!"  
"Uh-huh, yeah. I got you."  
"If I needed help, I would've called Mr. Tanaka or Ella, even Grandpa if I really needed help! You and Mom worry too much, they're all taking good care of me!"  
"Yeah... Well they better be! Listen Douglas, I've got a very important meeting to run to, so you call me anytime you need to, and NO more late night swims, okay? You promise?"  
"Yeah, I promise Dad, no swims. I'll see you soon." With that, Douglas hung up the 'phone, and looked over again to Sonic, who was shaking his head and groaning.

Douglas smiled. "You don't know the half of it. It's no wonder that my Step-Parents are so protective of me, ever since..." Douglas stopped, before coughing into his free hand while putting the 'phone down with the other. "...Anyway, I guess since you're my guest here, I better be a good host. You want something to eat?"  
"Yeah, I guess I could go for something." Sonic replied, not noticing the change of topic. "What's on the menu?"  
"Anything you want really, I'm assuming that you don't want what hedgehogs on this planet are eating." Douglas said, pulling around a small laptop computer. "I had a look at this animal website just to check out some things, and when I looked at the list of foods, it didn't exactly look all that fun."  
"Why? What do hedgehogs here like?"  
"Does cat-food do anything for you?"  
"Cat-food? Why would I want a cat's food?"  
"Well, how about slugs or worms?"  
"URGH!" Sonic shouted, repulsed by the thought  
"Ha! Didn't think so, but that's the stuff hedgehogs love here. Kinda figures that you're not into that since you're not like any other hedgehog here..."

Suddenly, Sonic leapt from the balcony onto the branch of a nearby tree.  
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Douglas shouted at the hedgehog.  
"Sorry man, but I've got to have fast food for a fast hedgehog!"  
"So? I can order out for some pizza! It's not safe for you to be running around in broad daylight! The cops are probably still looking for you!"  
Sonic just flashed his trademark smile. "See ya!" Then in a flash Sonic was speeding out of sight. Douglas just watched Sonic fade into the distance.  
"...Gezz, that hedgehog's got a bloody attitude problem..." He said, as he sat down at the table, and pulled up the cover of the silver dome that covered the breakfast. "Ah! Nothing like an early-morning Chili-Dog to start the day off..."

* * *

**Episode 2 – A Happy Reunion?**

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* * *

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Part 1:

"The Supersonic Speed Demon, seen here on police video, has the city baffled" came the female reporter's voice from the TV screen as it showed a clip of Sonic running down a section of highway. The screen then cut to a collection of eyewitness accounts.  
"It was about this high, it was blue, and it looked like a freak!" said a police officer, who was holding his hand at his waist, indicating the height of the 'freak'.  
"I was doin' about 60 when this thing went WOOOOOOO! Right by me!" said a man with curly hair.  
"That thing moved too fast to be a regular animal!" said a slightly rounded man with a moustache standing by his yellow taxi...

"Hey! Kaufman! He finally got his face on TV!" Douglas exclaimed pointing at the TV set as a scientist holding a monkey came on screen.  
The story had been the main news story all day. Truth was, anything vaguely interesting made the news in Station Square, since nothing really happened. But when a blue hedgehog runs rings around the local law enforcers, then outruns the S-Team, it makes local AND national news! Experts are baffled, the secret service thinks it's just another wind-up, and no one knows what's going on. Except for one person, who was sitting watching the news with his new blue hedgehog friend?  
"...The inevitable conclusion that one must come to is that the so called 'hedgehog' is in fact a machine." The scientist concluded.  
'A machine that runs on a supply of Chilidogs' Douglas thought, looking at Sonic who was devouring his sixth chilidog. Douglas smirked, it was just as well he didn't have to share his breakfast with him; it'd probably have been gone in a second. But having Sonic, as a friend, might not be a bad thing. Anyone who could outrun Sam Speed was defiantly something else, even if they had an attitude problem...

The door that led from the main hallway of the house into the living room where Douglas and Sonic opened sharply, and an elderly man in a lab coat stood in the doorway, before walking into the room seemingly with a purpose.  
"Guess what? A big blue hedgehog came out of nowhere yesterday and outran the S-Team." The man said looking directly at Douglas. The man then looked down at the blue hedgehog looking up at him. He then looked at the TV news report, and then back at the hedgehog, before both the hedgehog and the man directly eyeballed each other.  
'Shiiiiiiiiiiiit!' Douglas thought, as he grabbed the nearest pillow and shoved it directly over Sonic.  
"HEY GRANDPA CHUCK! Yeah I saw the news as well it's very interesting isn't it?" Douglas said loudly, attempting to drown out the muffled cries of the hedgehog he was trying to hide.  
Suddenly the hedgehog burst free, causing the pillow to fly over the couch as he sat with a pissed-off look on his face.  
"Hey, HEY! Don't you give me any evils hedgehog! The next time someone comes looking for you I'll leave you to get captured shall I?" Douglas directed at Sonic, unaware that his 'Grandpa' was studying the hedgehog. Douglas looked up from his seat at Chuck, and saw a look of realisation dawn on his face.  
'Not. Good.' Douglas thought, as he saw Chuck leap onto Sonic.

"Just like that hedgehog on the TV!" Chuck said as he held onto the struggling Sonic.  
"What the?" Was all Douglas could get out before Chuck pulled out a screwdriver. "No! NO! PUT THAT DOWN!"  
"I have to see how this thing is put together!" Chuck exclaimed as he began rapidly moving the screwdriver around Sonic, trying to find the back panel that would open up the 'robot' he held. This only caused a tickling sensation, as Sonic squirmed and laughed at the feel of the cold metal, before Sonic leapt out of Chuck's grasp across the room.  
"And I thought Amy's hugs were bad!" Sonic said as he landed  
"STAND STILL!" Chuck shouted at the hedgehog, but his anger vanished when he felt Douglas grabbing a hold of his wrist.  
"CHUCK! Sonic here isn't a bleeding robot! He real man, he's real!" If Chuck's jaw could have reached the floor, it would have gone crashing down into the basement, but he only had a look of utter shock on his face as his screwdriver fell from his hand onto the floor.  
"Now let's go live to this late, breaking story." The sound of a little girl crying came from the TV screen.  
"Please..."

"Huh?" Sonic turned sharply to the screen, as it showed a much larger than normal rabbit in a red dress, clutching a strange looking blue creature.  
"Please leave us alone!"  
"It's Cream and Cheese!" Sonic exclaimed.  
"Friends of yours?" Douglas enquired, although he guessed the answer already.  
"I'm not the only one who got transported into the weird world after all! I'll save them!" Sonic then quickly dashed out the door Chuck had used to come in, out the hall through the main doors, and headed out of the mansion grounds. Douglas ran out the door a few seconds later.

"Hey Mr. Hero! Mind telling me where your buddies are?" Sonic ran straight through a hedge, leaving a trail of dust behind him, before putting on the brakes and running back over to Douglas. Sonic looked at Douglas, before shrugging his shoulders and smiling an uneasy smile. Sonic didn't have a clue. "Somehow I didn't think you knew." Douglas said, folding his arms. "This 'weird world' as you called it is probably very different from yours. So you've got to play by the rules of our world, and that means waiting until we know all the facts..."

* * *

Chuck, Douglas and Sonic were all in the spacious garage of the house, where they had been waiting to make up some sort of plan to rescue Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao. Chuck had been going through a list of his 'contacts' for the past hour or so since the story broke out, and hadn't been off the telephone since. Douglas was listening to his personal CD player, while Sonic was trying to figure out what a strange-looking metallic device with leavers was used for. Douglas looked over to the confused hedgehog and smiled, puling out one of the earphones. Sonic noticed this. 

"What the heck is this thing?" the hedgehog asked.  
"No idea man, sometimes Chuck just builds inventions without knowing what they'll do."  
"Is that why it doesn't do anything?"  
"Naw, that's probably due to the lack of power."  
"Lack of power?"  
"Yeah, the thing's not plugged in."

"I thought they might do something along those lines! Thanks for giving me the scoop and I'll talk to you soon." Chuck spoke into the telephone before hanging it up. "Well it seems that Sonic's friends have been captured by the police and moved to Area 99!"  
The image of a large fenced-off, heavily secure stronghold with large runways flashed up in Douglas' mind. "Damn, Area 99... Of all the military bases in the world, and it would have to be that one..."  
"What?" Sonic said, obviously puzzled.  
"Area 99 is the country's best defence centre. Fighter jets, tanks, warheads, you name them; they've got 'em there. Plus, it's where they do all this hi-tech development stuff for new weapons."  
"That sound's like Eggman's kinda place!" Sonic said, thinking over what Douglas had said.  
"Egg-what?" Douglas replied, but Chuck broke back into the conversation before Sonic could reply.  
"You friends have been taken there by the army and placed under 24 hour guard; the authorities believe they could be aliens..." Chuck then looked over at Sonic. "...Or perhaps members of a mutant species designed by a foreign power to attack our population! I wonder if they might not be right Sonic, eh?" The tone of Chuck's voice indicated what he was directing at the blue hedgehog.  
"Now hold on there Chuck!" Douglas said, getting up from his seat as he switched off his CD player.  
"Think what you want! I'm gone! Now I know where my friends are, I'm outta here!" Sonic shrugged, as he started walking out of the garage.  
"Hey, you aren't planning to go into Area 99 solo are you? They've got the latest in CCTV and security counter-methods! You'll get locked up faster than you can swallow a chilidog!"  
"They can't lock me up!" Sonic declared, turning his head to the two humans in the room, before turning to leave. His exit has cut short by the garage doors suddenly coming down before him, blocking his exit. Sonic let out a mumble of annoyance pass through his lips, before fully turning 'round to face the Thorndykes.

"Open that door!" Sonic shouted. The only answer he got was a roar of laughter from Douglas, and a smug look on the face of Chuck.  
"Oh, yeah Sonic! Nobody can lock YOU up!" Douglas said mockingly between laughs.  
"It was me!" Chuck exclaimed proudly, pointing at himself.  
"Ha! Nice one!" Douglas said, high fiveing his step-grandpa out of respect, amongst other things. Sonic looked onto the scene with extreme confusion.  
"You're gonna need some help Sonic, I'm coming with you!"  
"You sure you're up for this Chuck?" Douglas asked with a smile on his face, already knowing the answer full well.  
"Of course I am, and you're coming along too! You've always said that you don't want to live a boring life like your step-father does, so here's your chance for some excitement!"  
"Hmm... Let me think about this..." Douglas said, over-dramatically rubbing his chin with his hand. "...YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M COMING TOO! I'm not gonna miss this chance to mess with the man!"  
"Alright then! Let's get going!" Chuck exclaimed, as Sonic continued to look on with a shocked expression on his face.

* * *

  
Flip Card 1 – Cream

Full Real name: Cream Teresa Rabbit  
Nickname(s): Cream  
Age: 6  
Gender: Female  
Likes: Ice cream, helping others, inparticular TV 'previews'  
Dislikes: Violence, sadness, isolation  
Identifying features: Cream-coloured rabbit, wears a red dress, has huge ears that can sustain flight, is often seen with her pet/friend Chao known as Cheese.

* * *

  
Flip Card 2 – Tails  
  
Full Real name: Miles Prower  
Nickname(s): Tails  
Age: 8  
Gender: Male  
Likes: Working on machines, helping others (especially Sonic), his secret crush  
Dislikes: Thunder and Lightning, messing up  
Identifying features: Orange coloured kitsune (fox) with two tails, which he can spin like rotor blades enabling him to fly, wears red and white sneakers

* * *

  
Part 2:

"This is the last time I ever ride in this rust-bucket, it'll take forever to get there! I'd be faster on my own!" Sonic pouted as he sat in the back of the car that Chuck was driving, as Douglas sat in the front passenger seat holding what looked like a headset with a red visor. Douglas didn't really pay much attention to the hedgehog, as he nodded his head to the music coming from the radio. They'd been on the road for a while now, and now all that could be seen was wide-open desert, as the headed down the road that led to Area 99.

"Chill out!" Chuck said, looking over his shoulder at the hedgehog, before looking over to Douglas.  
"You want me to give this to him now?" Douglas asked.  
"Yes, it's time."  
Douglas then turned 'round in his seat and handed the device to Sonic, before motioning to his own head. "Put this on Sonic."  
"What's this?" the hedgehog inquired.  
"It's an infrared scope! Area 99 is probably full of hidden infrared laser traps and motion detectors, with that on you should be able to avoid them!" Chuck said, while looking at the road ahead.  
"Plus, we'll be able to talk over radio to you when you get in there, so we both know what goin' down." Douglas added.  
Sonic put on the headset and smiled, before giving the thumbs up, unbuckling himself, and jumping out of the car so that he ran along side the car. "I'll see ya up ahead!" He called, before speeding off ahead of the Throndykes, leaving only a trail of smoke behind him.  
Chuck looked shocked as he watched the trail of smoke zoom into the distance. "He certainly is a speedy little critter, isn't he? YEAH!" Chuck raised a hand in the air, as he floored the accelerator of the car, causing the car to rev-up as it speeded up. Douglas shouted his approval as he swung both hands in the air as the car chased after Sonic, who was already far into the distance.

* * *

"Sir, we have detected a small motor vehicle approaching the base along the road, as well as a rapidly approaching single creature, which seems to be faster than any recorded road vehicle that I've ever seen!"  
"That means the plan is working, the rabbit is associated somehow to Sonic. He's trying to rescue her."  
"What'll we do now Sir?"  
"Set all defence systems to stun, the government wants that hedgehog captured alive if possible. If it's a good as the hype around it is, then this will be a good test of its abilities..."  
"But what if he escapes Sir?"  
"Then we track him down on radar, and find out where it was hiding last night. Something tells me that whoever's in that car will have something to do with this all..."  
"Yes Miss. Topaz, I'll give the orders out right away Sir!" 

The man quickly turned back to his computer and began typing in commands on his computer terminal as Topaz looked at the large wall of monitors that constituted a part of the security complex in Area 99. One of the larger monitors showed a man in a white coat looking into the retina I.D. scanner machine that was the access to the room where the 'test-subject' was held. The door to the room opened and the man stepped inside. Topaz turned to the screen behind her that was currently running off images and data on the rabbit and the small creature with it.

The rabbit was a 2-foot tall cream-coloured female bunny-rabbit, who wore a red-dress, a small blue schoolgirl-like tie, white gloves on her hands that had small golden cuff links, and red and yellow shoes. The rabbit spoke perfect English, and seemed scared by what was happening. The blue winged creature with it wore a red bow tie around its neck, and had small pink wings on its back. It also has a yellow ball that hung above it's head, seemingly suspended by nothing at all, and seemed to only know one word: 'Chao', which it spoke perfectly.

'Is that... A Chao?' Topaz thought. 'But I thought they were only supposed to be myths, legends, long since extinct? Could they actually exist?'

* * *

"Hey Sonic! Can ya hear me?" Douglas asked, speaking into the microphone on the headset he was wearing.  
"Yeah!" the voice of Sonic replied through the radio.  
"Listen, when you get into the base, head for the air-vents. That should be a... blind-spot?" Douglas looked over to Chuck, who nodded. "Yeah, a blind- spot! The security systems won't see you there, so then you can go and so your hero act!"  
"Hah! No problem!" Sonic replied.  
"...Hey Chuck, how'll Sonic find where that Cream-cheese cake is anyway?"  
"It's Cream and Cheese!" Sonic shouted down the line  
"Sorry, sorry! It's not my fault they have weird names!"  
"Give me that!" Chuck said, before taking the headset off Douglas and putting it on himself.  
"Listen Sonic, once you get in there, you wont have much time, so think quickly and act quickly! If you see something suspicious, go for it! You're friends will probably be in there!"  
"...THAT'S YOUR ADVICE? Look for something suspicious?" Douglas shouted at his step-grandfather.  
"No sweat! I'll find it somehow, I'm going in!"  
"I damn well hope so Sonic, otherwise you've got a one-way ticket to hell..."

* * *

_  
Intruder alert – Sector D. Intruder alert – Sector D._ Came the automated voice of the computer, which caused many of the people working at their consoles to look up at the monitors on the walls, as the CCTV cameras attempted to locate the intruder.  
"Where is it? I can't see!"  
"Someone's setting off the motion detectors, but the cameras are moving to slow to see who it is!"  
"You morons! It's that hedgehog, he's here! Put all the security systems on high alert, especially around the test-room, and prepare to initiate full lock-down when I give the word!" Topaz shouted across the room.  
"YES SIR!" was the reply from the men in the room, as they returned to their computers.  
'Let's see what you've got hedgehog...' Topaz thought, as she again looked at the information being brought up about the rabbit. One line about the two subjects was underlined, so it caught her eye instantly: NO METAL IS PRESENT IN EITHER SUBJECT. 'Damn... They're real!'

* * *

"Okay, I'm inside the air-vent!" Sonic spoke into the microphone of his headset.  
"Well be careful then, there's bound to be lot's to security, so watch out." Came the voice of Douglas in Sonic's earpiece. 

Suddenly Sonic landed harshly on the bottom of the vent-slide he was on. Sonic rubbed his rear to remove the slight pain he felt. "Feels like I've got skid-marks on my butt!" He said, before looking ahead in the vent he was in. Through the infrared scope, he saw lots of lasers strewn across the vent, arranged in a way that Sonic's couldn't possibly get through them without setting them off. "So much for a blind-spot!" Sonic said out loud.  
"What's happening?" Douglas enquired.  
"Nothing yet!" Sonic replied, before noticing a grate in front of the lasers. Sonic removed it, before looking down into the hall. There were CCTV camera along the hallway in both directions, and the moved in short 90- degree arcs, covering short areas before the other camera took over.  
"This'll be a piece of cake!" Sonic said, before dropping down and moving in tightly to the wall, directly under the nearest camera. As soon as the camera he was under faced down the hall, Sonic zoomed over the diagonally opposite camera, where he waited for it to look down the hall, before repeating the process again, and again, until he reached a small corner where he hid behind.  
"Ha! I'm just too fast for them!" Sonic mocked, before again moving down the hall, using the same method as before.

* * *

Outside Area 99, on a high-up rock overlooking the base area, the motorcar with Chuck and Douglas in it slowly ground to a halt. Douglas unbuckled himself and stood up on his seat, staring down at the base. Chuck remained buckled, and kept the engine running, just in case something did go wrong. 

"I hope Sonic makes it out of there. The guy's full of himself, but you can't be that cocky unless you can back it up..." Douglas said out loud, thoughtfully.  
"Like you can?" Chuck replied.  
Douglas looked over to him and smirked. "Since when have I been arrogant?"  
"Maybe you haven't, but have an attitude of your own." Chuck said, scolding.  
"...Maybe I do, maybe it's just my style. I don't excel at anything special like all the other Throndykes do, so I have too..."  
"You wrestle, don't you?"  
"Yeah, but I haven't had a booking in weeks, they can't find anyone brave enough, or stupid enough, to get in the ring with me. My own reputation does me more damage than good sometimes..."  
"That's not the full reason, is it?"

Douglas sighed. "...No... I just... I just can't seem to get over what happened to him..."  
"You know it wasn't your fault Douglas, there was really nothing any of us could've done."  
"I know that, but when I think back to him... Him dying in my arms... I just... There's a bond now, a bond I wish that sometimes had never existed, just because it hurts so much when I think about him... We had all those good times, but it's just that moment..." Douglas looked up to the sky above him, as a small tear began to form underneath his eye.

"...Why did you have to go Chris?"

* * *

Sonic peered around the corner, and saw a door with the words 'Staff Only' marked on it and the word 'Laboratory' above it. 'That looks suspicious enough to me,' Sonic thought, 'Cream and Cheese must be in there, but getting in there might not be the problem, it's getting them both out safely!' Sonic pulled his head back around the corner, and put rested his head in between the thumb and finger of his gloved hand. 'If it was just me I could get out easily, but if I have to get Cream out as well, then I can't be too reckless!' 

Suddenly, the lights in the corridor went out, as did lighting around the base. Sonic looked up to see what was happening, but only saw the red lights on the CCTV cameras go out, as they rested forward, having no power to hold them up. Abnormality detected in the electrical system. Abnormality detected in the electrical system. Came an electronic voice above him from one of the loud speakers. Sonic didn't really understand what it meant, but knew that this was an opportunity too good to miss. Without another sound, Sonic headed for the door.

* * *

In the laboratory room, the lights also went off, as did the computer screens. 

"Ah great, now we can't see anything!" one of the scientists shouted out, as another ran across the room to try and call up the central control room.  
Suddenly the sound of shattered glass rang though the room, causing all the scientists to look at the container the rabbit and the blue creature had been in.  
"What the?" They were both gone; only shards of glass remained in the tank. "They're gone!"

The sounds of an alarm claxon, now filled the air, as Sonic hid behind a large computer with Cream and Cheese. Cream and Cheese were both slightly dazed, having been quickly grabbed and moved over in about a second.  
"Sonic!" Cream exclaimed, but she quickly silenced herself by putting both hands over her mouth when she saw Sonic go 'shhh!' and put a finger to his mouth. Cheese unfortunately ignored this, and grabbed Sonic in a hug, calling out happily.  
"OVER THERE!" Sonic heard someone shout, as he gently pushed Cheese off.  
"Let's go!" Sonic said as he passed the Chao over to Cream  
"Right." Cream replied, taking he Chao friend and holding it closely to her. Sonic then proceeded to move off, and Cream followed closely behind.

* * *

"What's wrong with the power supply?" Topaz questioned into her radio- communicator.  
"It looks like sabotage Sir, We've found the weird little paper aeroplanes stuck into the walls and wires, they must have been what caused the power failure."  
"...I hope this isn't a joke."  
"No! There aren't really paper as such, they seem to be made out of a circuit board, with little wires and engines and stuff, they seem to be remote controlled, but not very strong!" the engineer replied quickly.  
"Interesting... Get the power back, we need the place running even sooner than ASAP, and make sure to collect all those 'planes you've found, I'll need those as evidence."  
"No problem Topaz, we're right on it!"

* * *

Sonic ran down the lightless corridors, holding on firmly to Cream's arm as he led her through them, while Cream carefully held onto Cheese. Sonic ran straight down the middle of the corridor, unafraid now that the security cameras were devoid of power, and unfazed by the constant wail of the alarm klaxon ringing in his ears. 

"Wow Mr. Sonic! Were you able to shut down the power all by yourself?" Cream asked, glad to have been saved from the scary container she was put in.  
"Sorry Cream, but as much as I'd love to say that it was me, I have no idea how it happened. I guess something must've malfunctioned..."  
"You always seem to have good luck wherever you go Mr. Sonic!"  
"I guess so!"

As if fate was listening to the conversation, it chooses that moment to complicate their escape. Without warning, all the lights in the corridor switched back on. Sonic and Cream looked up in shock and horror as the many cameras turned and focused on them. Sonic then realised that the alarm he heard wasn't signalling a power failure; it was warning that the prisoners were escaping.

"...I think I jinxed it Mr. Sonic..." Cream sadly mumbled as she slightly trembled in fear. Sonic could feel the shaking from the young rabbit, which only encouraged him more to make sure that they all got out alive.  
"Don't worry Cream, we're still breaking out of here!" Sonic noticed that the tops of the cameras had opened, and out of the holes popped out mini laser guns. The guns were aimed straight at him.  
'Shit!' Sonic thought, not wanting to curse in front of Cream due to her young age.  
"Let's go!" Sonic said, before quickly dragging Cream out of the way of an incoming laser, before Cream even had time to reply. Sonic zigzagged down the corridor, narrowly avoiding the beams, pulling Cream in tow behind him, as the cameras constantly unleashed their shots down upon the furries.

* * *

Outside the base, Chuck and Douglas looked down at the base concerned about the safety of Sonic and his friends as they heard a loud alarm klaxon ring out. 

"Shit! I told him to be careful!" Douglas cursed as he put on the headset once more. "What the hell went wrong Sonic? Did you find your buddies?"  
"Don't worry about me, everything's fine!" Sonic lied in reply through the headset, as the sounds of lasers crashing into the floor accompanied his response. 'Everything's fine my ass!' Douglas thought, removing the headset again.  
"Try and relax Douglas, I'm sure Sonic knows what he's doing!" Chuck said, still looking at the base.

Douglas looked at Chuck as if he was trying to convince him that gargling with razor blades was a fun hobby.  
'By the way, if you try that as a hobby and die, then it's not my fault!' Douglas thought to himself, looking back onto the base.  
'Wait a minute, who the hell did I just advice not to do that?'

Both the Throndykes were unaware though that while from their position, the could clearly see the base below, they could also be seen clearly from the base, evident by a security camera focusing in on them...

* * *

"RUN!" Sonic shouted, as he let go of Cream's arm suddenly. Cheese cried out in distress, believing that Sonic was about to abandon them both. 

In an instant, Sonic leapt up from his running movement on the ground and brought his left arm back around him while clenching his fist. When he was about the right height with the camera he was aiming for, he swung his fist back around his body, smashing the camera off it's stand, before propelling himself off the wall, travelling diagonally across the corridor towards the next camera and grabbing a hold of it, utilising a new technique of his that he liked to call the 'Triangle Jump'. Sonic then roughly turned the camera towards the other cameras of the corridor, and using the camera's laser, began picking off the cameras one by one. The cameras instantly exploded on contact with the lasers, rendering them useless. 'I guess I'm still a hot shot after all!' Sonic thought as he took out a few more. Cream looked around in fear at the violence she was witnessing, as she stood holding on tightly to Cheese. Cream was made a little more frightened when she saw Sonic take out another camera, the remains of which fell down in front of her.

"Cream! You have to run!" Sonic called down to her, as he pulled up the camera he had used from its supports.  
Cream looked up at Sonic and smiled in realisation. He was only trying to help her, even if it meant all the destruction occurring. "Okay Mr. Sonic!" Cream said, quickly running down the corridor as Sonic tossed down the camera he'd pulled out.

* * *

"Topaz! The hedgehog is destroying all the security cameras!"  
"Initiate the full lock-down, NOW!"  
"YES SIR!" The controller replied, slamming his fist down onto a button beside him.  
_Closing off corridors._ The computer's voice replied, as Topaz watched the monitors show heavy metal blast doors slam shut, blocking off exits routs out of the base.  
She smirked. 'Sorry hedgehog, but not even you can survive this on your own...'  
"Topaz, we've just discovered a radio channel! It seems the two people in that car are talking with the hedgehog via that headset the hedgehog is wearing!"  
"Interesting... Tap into it, and then we can trace them. Also, take some pictures of them and the car, I want to know who they are..."

* * *

Cream's eyes filled with fear as she saw a heavy looking door begin to lower in front of her.  
"It's closing!" Cream cried out in disbelief. They had come so far, was it all for nothing? Would she still be trapped here, away from her parents, from her mother? What would happen to Sonic, he had only tried to save her and Cheese from the place, would he have to go through what she had? 

Sonic instantly realised urgent action was needed, and leapt down from the wall, and in one swift motion scoped in Cream and Cheese and landed running on the floor at the same time, before speeding forwards rapidly towards the closing door. He lowered his head and held Cream tightly into himself, as he raced towards the gad between the floor and the door.

**WHOOSH!**

Sonic barely made it under in time, as the door slammed down behind him. Sonic and Cream smiled as the looked back, but their joy was quickly ended by the sounds of more lasers ahead. Sonic quickly ground himself to a halt, placing himself in front of Cream and Cheese, using his own body as a shield to protect them, as he stared ahead. There were more cameras, here than in the last, and they were all pointed directly down at them.

Suddenly Cream yelped out in surprise, as both she and Sonic heard a strange buzzing noise up ahead. Peering ahead, a strange cloud-like shape appeared around a bend in the corridor, it was heading in their direction.  
"What... What are those?" Cream asked in fear, as Sonic looked more carefully at the cloud as the buzzing became louder. His eyes widened in surprise; it wasn't a cloud, it was a swarm!

A swarm of... paper 'planes?

Sonic readied himself for an attack. But it never came. The 'planes changed course in a millisecond, as one sliced through a camera's support joint to the wall completely, causing the camera to fall lifeless to the floor, while another knocked a camera's support completely off the wall, causing it and the camera to plummet to the ground. Another camera received a 'plane travelling at such speed that it embedded itself deep inside the camera, causing the camera to short circuit. Sonic gazed up in wonder as he watched these small 'planes carry out suicide missions against the security enemy, as more and more cameras were rendered inoperable.

"What's happening?" Cream asked, looking around Sonic, but still too frightened to actually leave his protection.  
"I dunno, but I know that this is our chance!" Sonic smiled, as he grabbed a hold of Cream's arm again and led her down the corridor, as cameras continued to buzz with electricity due to the short-circuits, and safely under another blast door before it shut them in the corridor.

* * *

"What the hell is going on now?" Topaz shouted across the command room, and workers frantically ran about with printouts and files.  
_Numerous unidentified objects._ The computer's voice declared. At that moment, some of the monitors in the command room switched off. _Numerous...Unidentified..._The computer started to state, but its voice was draining away and becoming weak, as all the monitors in the room lost power and switched themselves off. As the last monitor closed down, all the lights and controls in the room went off.  
"Could someone please tell me what's happened?" Topaz screamed into her communicator.  
" 'Planes! There's even more 'planes! They've cut off the main power supply completely, and they've caused the security controls to short-circuit! The cameras are out of control and have taken up all the back-up power! We'll need to do a full shut-down of the base to fix it!"  
"Then do it, and fast, before those lasers blow up the whole base!"

* * *

The cameras were not just out of control, they were confused. The short circuits in the system caused them to believe that everything, moving or not, was a target. The cameras were randomly aiming at walls, doors, and air-vents and were shooting them down. It caused circuitry behind the walls to explode, it caused sheets of metal to fall from the ceiling and smash into the ground, and it made Cream, Cheese and Sonic want to escape for Area 99 even sooner than ASAP. Sonic held onto Cream tightly as he ran up the emergency staircase they'd found, hoping to find an escape hatch or something, pulling her behind him, as lasers continued to fire upwards and around them. 

"You didn't do this as well Mr. Sonic?"  
"Like I said, I haven't done anything!" Sonic responded, concentrating on escaping alive. Sonic didn't notice, but a laser cut away a section of the staircase in front of him. Almost by a cruel twist of fate, Sonic stood exactly on this cut-line that had been made, causing the section behind him to fall away.

The section Cream was on.

Cream called out in pure terror, as Sonic looked back and saw the danger. Cream was gripping Sonic's hand tightly, the other hand holding Cheese close to her body, as she dangled in mid-air, suspended only by Sonic holding onto her. More laser beams fired upwards, causing further sections of the staircase to fall away to the floor far below.

Cream trembled and whimpered in fear again, along with Cheese, as they both looked up in hope towards Sonic, who'd faced showed the look of determination. He hadn't let down any of his friends before, and he wasn't going to let that change right now! Sonic heard the sound of another laser close by, probably behind him. The sound of crashing metal filled his ears again as he looked over his shoulder. A very large section of the stairs had fallen away, having fallen victim to the out of control security cameras. Sonic knew that time was rapidly running out now, so he took a firm hold of Cream's arm with his other hand and pulled her quickly up to him, taking her solidly in his arms, as he leapt from the section he was standing on, just as a laser came from below and ripped the section away from the wall. Sonic knew there wasn't any more time for risks, so he began leaping from section to section of the staircase that was still intact, dodging the continued random laser assault from below. Sonic eventually came to rest upon the highest platform of the staircase, where he put Cream down, and stared below. It seemed that far below, a fire was raging that had been started by the cameras. The cameras still fired beams around randomly, but Sonic was too far up now to be hit or affected. They were safe. They were still trapped in the base mind you, but they were still safe.

"You see Cream! I told you we'd make it out okay!" Sonic said, turn to Cream and reassuring her. "I guess you were pretty scared huh?"  
Cream shook her head, trying to shake off the bad thoughts now that she and Cheese were out of danger. "Thank you Mr. Sonic!" Cream brightly said, clasping her hands together in a sign of thanks and respect.

Sonic simply replied with his trademark (at least in his world) thumbs-up pose. "It was nothin'!" Sonic modestly replied.  
That thought was broken though, as his ears picked up something, something... Outside...  
"That sound..." Sonic said out loud, taking off his headset scope, and putting his ear against the wall, hoping to get a better listen to the sound. It sounded strangely familiar, it sounded mechanical, and it sounded just like... An aeroplane engine?  
"An airplane?" Sonic questioned himself, before a thought entered his mind. That wasn't any 'plane, it was the Tornado!  
"Tails!"

* * *

Outside, the Tornado soared above Area 99, as the young kitsune that piloted the craft began a slow circle of the base, coming around a domed structure of the base's buildings. 

"Area 99! This has to be where Cream and Cheese are!" Miles Prower reasoned, as he looked down at the base below. Suddenly, what appeared to be a round ball burst through the domed roof of the building Tails was looking at. Of course, Tails recognised the familiar blue fur of his best friend, and the two people he was holding onto. Sonic was here, and saved Cream and Cheese!  
"Perfect!" Tails called, as he brought the Tornado down closer towards Sonic. In a seemingly effortless movement, Sonic landed perfectly on the wing of the Tornado, grabbing a firm grip of it as he secured Cream and Cheese as well. Cream still had her eyes closed from Sonic's jump thought the roof, and only just opened her eyes. She looked up, and quickly realised where she was. She was free. Tails brought the 'plane back upwards, high above Area 99, bringing it back into a straight line.

"Hey!" Sonic said, looking over to his good friend.  
"Hi!" Tails waved back.  
"Mr. Tails! It was you who helped us all along!" Cream said, finally realising what had happened, looking up at the fox with wide, happy eyes.  
Tails winked proudly, knowing that he'd once again helped Sonic save the day.  
"I just helped, Sonic's the real hero! Now hold on tight so you don't fall off!" Tails called out, as he brought the 'plane around in a turn, before levelling of and flying over the heads of two people in a motorcar.

"Well I'll be... That's the greatest stunt I've ever seen in my life!" Douglas shouted out loud, as he watched the aircraft fly overhead.  
"Well, I guess we'd better pull out!" Chuck said, putting the car into gear.  
"Yes sir!" Douglas said, giving a mock salute as he buckled his seatbelt, as the aircraft continued to fly into the distance.

* * *

Back at the Thorndyke residence, Tails' 'plane, the Tornado, was parked outside the garage that was underneath Chuck's lab, as the two humans, three furries and Chao were introduced to each other. 

"I'm Douglas, I met Sonic yesterday evening when he fell into the pool and I pulled him out!"  
"I'm Tails! I'm Sonic's bestest buddy, isn't that right Sonic?"  
"I suppose..." Sonic replied, putting on a mock 'I don't really care' tone in his voice.  
"I'm Cream, and this is my good Chao friend Cheese." Cream said, motioning to the Chao standing beside her. "We're very pleased to meet you!" The rabbit said, before she and Cheese curtsied before Douglas.  
Douglas smiled, although a little uneasy at this show of manners. "Yeah, It's a pleasure to meet you as well! You all seem nice people, so I hope we'll get along just fine" Douglas said, although his mind was thinking slightly differently. The newly introduced friends of Sonic didn't seem to notice though. That had been a great attribute of Douglas' from living on the street – The fine art of lying without people noticing it.  
"Oh, I almost forgot, this is my Step-Grandfather, but I just call him Chuck since that's his name and it's quicker to say!"  
"...Amazing!" Chuck said thoughtfully. He'd been examining one of Tails' small 'planes that he had with him, the ones that had helped in getting Cream and Cheese out of Area 99. "I've never seen such tiny radio controlled airplanes!"  
"They're really nothing special!" Tails proudly said, stroking his nose with one of his gloved fingers, as his twin tails flapped behind him.

Douglas took a step away from Tails; put off slightly by the fact the fox had two tails. "Okay..." he turned his attention to Sonic. "Hey! Way to go setting off those alarms back there! You could've had the countries whole damn army and secret service down on you! That sort of stuff can start world wars!"  
Sonic looked at Douglas as if he was worrying for nothing, so shrugged of his statement. "Well, what are you going to do?" Sonic said, unconcerned.  
Douglas crossed his arms; he was starting to get very annoyed about the hedgehog's attitude. "And what exactly is THAT supposed to mean?" Sonic then mockingly shrugged his shoulders.  
"I don't know!"

"No, this is REALLY something!" Chuck said to Tails, still holding the 'plane.

"Hey, don't start disrespecting me hedgehog!" Douglas said to Sonic in the background. "If you're gonna stay here, you've gotta play by the rules of this world!"

"Where did you get this kind of science and technology?" Chuck enquired, not paying attention to the argument ensuing.

"Heh, I don't play by any rules!" Sonic replied, not paying attention to the threats in Douglas' voice.

"Where?" Tails asked puzzled, "I can only tell you that it's from my world."

"I got the out safely didn't I?" Sonic challenged again.

"Yes! But where IS your world?" Chuck asked again, leaning forward from his chair, eagerly awaiting a response.

"You got lucky, but next time they'll be ready for your tricks, then what'll happen huh?"

"Well... I guess..." Tails pondered, scratching his head in thought.

"Nothing will happen! I'll beat them all like I always do! There's nothing anyone can do to stop me, unless YOU'D like to try!" Sonic stated, sensing frustration in Douglas' voice.

"When Chaos Control happened, we were transported here through time and space... I think..."

"Interesting..." Chuck replied, thinking over what Tails has said. "Not very helpful, but interesting all the same..."

"MAYBE I'LL LAY A BEATING ON YOUR ASS AND THAT'LL KNOCK SOME DAMN SENSE INTO YOU!" Douglas roared, pulling out his 'fighting gloves from his pocket. Sonic instantly went into a fighting stance as his would-be opponent slipped on the gloves.

"AHEM!" Chuck coughed, which caused Sonic and Douglas to look at the other people in the room, who were smiling uneasily, and seemed to have those weird anime-style sweat-drops on their heads. Douglas stood up straight, responding to the feeling in the room.

"Right... This isn't the time... Or the place..." He noted, looking around the garage. "...But next time you need to rescue your friends, don't look to me for help. Do it yourself if you're so damn cocky!"  
"Maybe I will!" Sonic responded.  
Douglas turned away, but Sonic noticed the gloves that Douglas had pulled out being put away. They seemed to be well worn and used, were they just used for battles? Sonic could also hear that Douglas was mumbling something under his breath, but he couldn't pick up what... "...Example for the girl..." was all Sonic could pick up, as well as: "...Chris..."

"Hey Sonic..." Tails said, breaking the silence in the room. "Do you think that Chaos Control sent anyone else into this world? You, me, Cream and Cheese were all caught up in it, do you think it's possible? How many people were sent to this world?"  
"Well, let's see... I remember that Amy was there, so was Knuckles, and so was..." It was then, that the same thought passed through the minds of Tails, Cream and Sonic, the image of a large bald man with a long moustache.  
"DOCTOR EGGMAN!" All three called out at once, causing Douglas to turn around and question what he heard.

'Who the hell's this Eggman guy?'

* * *

Water crashed against the sandy beach, as the orange glow from the sunset shined down upon the water of the vast ocean around the small island. The island itself was untouched by human hands, since it was so far away from any civilisation. The only forest on it, although quite thick, was upon a large rock, only accessible by scaling the rock face. It was a sight of beauty to behold, a little tropical paradise... 

... Except for the huge metal tower that was currently sticking out of the side of the rock.

Above the huge tower, many little floating security cameras filmed the surrounding area, scanning for any signs of land, of civilisation, and of blue hedgehogs. Inside the tower itself, in a central control room, two robots, one tall, thin and golden coloured, the other short, rounded and silver, stood behind a man who was sitting in front of a large viewing screen, which was currently showing a picture of the vast horizon around the island that the cameras were filming.

"Ohhhhhh..." The large, bald-headed, moustached man exclaimed, as he read some intelligence reports about the place he was in and the state of his operations.  
"So I was sent into this world by Chaos Control... Well, that's fine! I'll build the foundations of the Eggman Empire on this world, and then expand my territory to other worlds!"  
The man then proceeded to let out a loud, abominable laugh of pure evil, a laugh that only belonged to one person. Doctor Ivo Robotnik – Doctor Eggman.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the control room of Area 99, an army officer was hurrying with a file of documents to a woman who was ideally filing her nails. 

"Topaz, here's the details of the car and the people who were outside the base. We also found this..." The man held up what looked to be the same infrared scope/headset that the hedgehog had used while in the base. "...By the hole made in the roof where the hedgehog escaped with the test- subjects."  
"Good work soldier, now carry on."  
"Yes Sir!" The soldier replied, before hurrying out the way he came in. Topaz open the file, and looked at the vehicle registration document that had been copied off for a moment, before turning the page to look at the details of one of the people of the car. The file read: 'Chuck Throndyke'.

"Hmm... Retired scientist... Not the first choice for an mission against a government base... but it says he still invents things, which could explain this scope..." Topaz turned the page again, and looked at the other person, 'Douglas Smicktor- Throndyke'.

Topaz looked at the picture of the younger man, interested by how different he looked to... well, anyone she'd really met, even the president! She looked down the information about him, and something caught her eye: 'Profession: Pro-Wrestler, turn over page for more details.'

Topaz turned the page, and was taken aback by an image placed on the page. It was a photo of Douglas, but he had been cut open in the for-head, so that a crimson mask of his own blood covered his own face. What was more worrying was the smile on his face. The smile seemed diabolical, it seemed evil, it seemed... That Douglas was enjoying himself...

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview: voice over by Douglas Thorndyke

"Well, I finally find out just who the 'Eggman' guy is! Problem is, he wants to take over the city to start some big empire, and he's got a huge missile-launching robot backing him up! It's wrecking the city, and Sonic's no-where in sight! Of all the times he chooses to disappear... And who the hell's Knuckles and Amy anyway?

Next time on **Sonic **_e_**X**_cluded_: '**An 'Eggs'-treme Problem!**' Don't miss it!"

* * *

That's Episode 2! I've played around a bit with the presentation of it, which I think people will like. I'm currently tweaking around with the original Sonic X storyline, but it will mostly be focused on Sonic and Douglas, with some original storylines remaining, while others are removed and burned. But now I'd like to respond to my kind reviewers... 

_Sonic/Anime_ - Douglas is interesting, we'll see some of his character in episode 4, as well as what's happened to Chris... The age explains why he uses naughty swear words alot, but it's a minor issue (at least I think so). I hope you enjoy this episode  
_KK Fox_ - Thank you! I wanted to do something different from other Sonic X re-writes (the Sonic X/Sonic Heroes fic by Kojiokida2 was a big factor for me doing this story.) so it's good to hear I'm doing something right with it. Keep on reading!  
_hyper Phantom_ - Like I've said, this is a different story not just to other Sonic X fics, but to my other works, but I'm glad to hear that you find it interesting and you like it.  
_Zyzz_ - Anti-Chris are we? Don't worry, that probably the main area of appeal for this story (that Chris isn't the main human (which is Douglas BTW) ). I hope I do keep up the good work for all my readers.

Thanks again to all my reviewers, and to those about to review this chapter, and stay tuned for the next episode!

_N.B. Edited on 19-11-04 for paragraphing reasons and minor editing  
Edited 01/05/05 - All Song lyrics have been removed as par the rules of FanFiction-dot-net._


	3. An Eggstreme Problem

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

I (Airo Smicktor) don't own Sonic, Sonic X or any other associated characters. I only own Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke.

* * *

Episode Prelude:

_"Station Square. A busy, hustling city. One of the largest cities in the country, but also one of the most peaceful. A well trained police force, accompanied by the residing S-Team (a high-speed pursuit unit comprised of 5 Formula One race-cars developed into police vehicles) and the nearby military stronghold known as Area 99 have meant that even petty thieves and opportunistic criminals don't even start thinking about breaking the law. In the past year, only one arrest had been made, which have led many people to believe that the city's own reputation for stopping crime does it more harm than good. In simple terms, it's far too peaceful."

* * *

_

"...Hmm... Interesting..." Doctor Eggman said, as he monitor showed pictures of a large city with many tall skyscrapers and impressive looking buildings.  
"This city is quite well developed, but mostly defenceless! If this is what the rest of the puny planet has to offer, then establishing my Eggman Empire will be a piece of cake!" he grinned, as he watched more images of the city flash up on the screen.  
"As an appetiser, I'll flatten this city as a warning to those who might try and oppose me!"  
_"Which robot will you use Doctor?"_ A tallish thin gold robot (although it could easily be just gold plating) inquired, as it brought over a stack of what appeared to be trading cards over to his master on a plate.

Eggman took the cards from the robot's plate, and spread some of the cards on the top of the deck out slightly, as if looking through a hand of cards in a game of poker.  
"Hmm... Let's see..." the Doctor thought out loud, looking at the cards he had. He wanted a robot capable of causing mass destruction, yet in a controlled way so that he himself was not in danger, but he didn't want to risk using some of his more powerful machines encase he underestimated the defences of the city.  
"...They all look so lethal..." he thought aloud again; it was a tricky dilemma. Eggman frowned, he was more used to solving complex calculations and constructing machinery than picking robots for situations.  
"I can't choose!" Eggman said unhappily.

But then, a thought struck him, causing his evil grin to return once again. Eggman shuffled the cards back into a deck, and pressed a red button on the control panel he was sitting in front of, which caused a small hatch in the pane to open. Eggman slotted the deck of cards into the panel, and closed the lid shut. The image of the city instantly changed into three columns on the screen, which showed various shapes, including a lemon, a black bar that read bar, a brightly coloured number seven, and a smiling face of Doctor Eggman. Eggman then reached over to a large sized leaver at the side of the machine. Taking a firm hold of the top of it, he pulled the leaver down, which caused the columns, or to be more precise – reels, to spin around rapidly on the screen, just like in a common slot machine. The images spun 'round, as Eggman watched on eagerly. Quickly, first reel stopped, followed by the middle, and the last. All three reels showed the same image. That of a large standing robot, with large metallic feet and legs, but it had large missiles on the ends of it's arms instead of hands, it had holes in its chest plate where missiles could come out of, and it head was a dome shape that could rotate 360 degrees, with only one large 'eye' sensor in the 'middle' of it. Eggman grinned broadly at the sight.

"Jackpot! Missile-Wrist will do perfectly for this conquest mission!"

* * *

_  
"Have you ever had the feeling that sometimes life is just far too good? That for so long, you've lived a trouble free life? Do you ever get the feeling that sometime down the road, and perhaps sooner rather than later, you're going to run into trouble? That terrible sense of foreboding, that you know a situation is going to end in tears. It's like when you watch an action movie in the cinema, and you see a main character's best friend or partner being introduced, and you say to yourself: 'They'll never make it through to the end of the film.' Even though you know it's just a film, you feel sorry for that person, and you start wishing that you were wrong, and that they do make it though. Sometimes they do make it through (even though that character is left out for the sequel), and you feel happy they made it; but if you were right, well, it's not a very nice feeling is it?"

* * *

_

Underneath Station Square, there is a vast underground network of pipes, tunnels and waterworks that allow water to flow freely. To some who aren't afraid of the damp tunnels and dark corners, it can also act as a useful means of transport via manhole covers to other parts of the city, since nearly every accessible are in the city is link by these underground tunnels. A useful escape route if you ever needed one in Station Square, which wasn't often if at all any. But it was being used today. As the cars travelled over the roads, as children took advantage of the weekend to play in the parks or the basketball courts, two furries were walking through the maze of tunnels, searching for a way out, unaware that civilisation was right above them.

The two furries walked in silence, one behind the other. The one in front was a male, red, dread locked Echidna, who walked with an unemotional expression on his face, as if he despised that fact that he was even walking. The other, a female pink hedgehog, walked behind with a disheartened expression on her face, indicating that she wasn't happy either with her current situation, or the company she was walking with. "This whole thing is Sonic's fault..." The Echidna thought out loud, in a tone that showed that he had decided this fact a long time ago.

"All Sonic did was try and stop Eggman, I'm sure he didn't mean for us to be sent here..." the girl replied, in a voice that was slightly bright and cheerful despite the circumstances.  
"Even if Eggman IS too blame, Sonic must have pushed him too hard for something like this too happen..." the Echidna replied back, with a sneer in his voice, obviously despising having to mention Sonic's name.  
The pink hedgehog suddenly stopped, and put he hands on her hips, a sign of annoyance towards him. "Knuckles! How can you just decide that? At least Sonic isn't AFRAID to fight back!"  
Knuckles stopped, looking over his shoulder at the girl. He was beginning to get annoyed with her defiance, and her support of Sonic. "Sonic just enjoys getting into fights for kicks!"  
"I'm not going any further if you're going to talk trash about Sonic!" She said, crossing her arms and turning away from Knuckles.

"...I don't have time for this Rose, see ya..." Knuckles replied, before continuing to walk ahead. Amy looked more than shocked that Knuckles had mad that statement.  
"You're not going to leave me alone down here are you?" She said, worried as a strange teardrop formed on her head out of fear.  
"Do what you want, that your business if you don't want to travel with a 'Sonic-Hater'." Knuckles called, without looking back at Amy.  
Amy groaned. "This is gonna be impossible!" She said, before running after Knuckles. "Hey Knuckles, wait up! Don't be mad!"

Knuckles frowned. 'What the hell did I do in a past lifetime to deserve this punishment – having to walk with the devil?' He thought, as Amy continued to call out after him.

* * *

**Episode 3 – An 'Eggs'-treme Problem****

* * *

**

Part 1:

_"I apply that feeling to my life ever since I started living here in Station Square. I can just feel it in me, something tells me it's all going to kick off, and very, very soon. In yesterday's early entry, I mentioned that a talking, speedy, blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic fell into the swimming pool of my Step-parent's house, and not wanting to have a dead body floating in the pool, I dived in and saved him. The later entry from yesterday went over how two of Sonic's friends, a rabbit called Cream and a 'Chao' (whatever that is) called Cheese, were captured by the army and taken to Area 99 (that army base). Sonic, my Step-grandfather Chuck, and myself set out on a risky rescue mission, which succeeded thanks to the surprise appearance of Sonic's best friend 'Tails', who is a fox with two tails! Don't get me started on how that works, I hardly understand the talking hedgehog who can out run F1 cars..."_

_"I woke up this morning with that feeling I mentioned before, you know, the one about knowing something bad is gonna happen? Yeah, well, that came from this Eggman that Sonic and his furry friends keep going on about. From how they spoke about him, I assume he's not a nice person. Then again, I've played a bad-guy character as a wrestler for months just know, so I only know about beating up 'nice' people. That's a bit off-topic though. Anyway, it looks like I'll have to spend more time in the house now, to keep an eye on these guys. Not that I mind that much, I suppose I have to try and get something done about Chris' wish sooner rather than later, but it's the reason why I have to stay that bothers me."

* * *

_

"Congratulations E-23! You have been selected to lead the charge in the take over of this planet and its subsequent initiation into the Eggman Empire!" the Doctor proudly said from his flying Egg Pod, as he looked down at the impressive robot below him, nicknamed Missile-Wrist. The robot had been summoned from the E-Series storage room, and just arrived in Eggman's 'Speech Hall' where he addressed his creations before a mission.

_"Understood. All hail the glorious Eggman Empire!"_ the robot mechanically replied, it was one of the few robots that had actually been given a voice chip that allowed it to communicate easily with its master. This was a symbol from its creator that it was special, and therefore was being relied on to produce results. The alternative was the scrap yard, where so many other robots had found their final resting place. Scratch, Grounder, Silver Sonic, Coconuts, and many others who were famous in the ranks of Eggman's creations. Famous for being failures.

"Today, were are going to be heading out towards a large city known as 'Station Square'. Once we get there, we are going to use a tactic known as 'Shock and Awe'. The information that I've collected in this world shows that this has rarely worked here, so the people will be... Um... In shock and awe when we arrive!" Eggman smiled to himself, as E-23 listened to its master intently. Not that you could tell, it didn't have any robotic facial features, only a domed head with a sensor.  
"Upon arrival, your mission is rather simple, so simple, I can put it in three simple words: Searching, Seek and Destroy! Cause mass chaos! Obliterate any object that gets in your way, and cause as much damage to public property as possible! I want to see fire, explosions, people running for their lives, anything! But I do not want anyone killed, do you understand? I want those people to surrender peacefully, there's no need to waste energy wiping out a population when we're going to tear down the city later."  
_"Understood."  
_"Excellent, let's begin! To Station Square, and the foundation of the Eggman Empire!"

* * *

_  
"Sonic has got an ego probably bigger than my step-uncle's. That's impressive in itself. He doesn't just think that he's the fastest thing in the world, he knows it. There's a big difference between thinking and knowing, ask anyone, but the difference here is that it makes Sonic rather... Too cocky for his own good. The guy takes off without telling anyone, doesn't listen to advice, and, to con a familiar Earth description to use on Sonic, is a prick. At least that's what I think. Then again, a good thing about Sonic running off without notice is that you don't have to pretend to like him all the time."_

"_Tails on the other hand, although I was a unsure about him because of those freakish tails of his, is actually pretty cool. Damn clever too, he built his own aeroplane, which he calls the Tornado, from scratch, as well as those amazing remote controlled paper 'planes! He's gonna get along just fine with Chuck, I can tell. Cream is very young, very polite; I think the correct description would be either 'cute' or 'adorable'. Not sure, never been one for cute stuff. The Chao friend of hers wears a bowtie around its neck. That thing worries me. I don't understand what the hell a Chao is, but it could be some kind of pet, and it only seems to speak in it's own language which is comprised of the word 'Chao'. Weird..."_

_"As for how they got here, well, you are a better person than me if you figure that one out, as I've no idea. I've heard Sonic and Tails mention something about a 'Chaos Control', which I first thought was some sort of machine or a base (like Ground Control, that's something to do with spaceships though), but when I asked Tails about it, he only made me more confused."_

"_He said that before they all got sent here, they were fighting against this Eggman guy, who had captured Cream and Cheese and was holding them hostage. It must be her job to get captured I suppose. Tails said that Eggman had collected all seven of the 'Chaos Emeralds' and was going to use them in an 'Energy Amplifier' to defeat Sonic and take over the world. Not exactly what'd you'd expect to be an adventure, a battle between an overgrown blue talking hedgehog that runs, against a fat bald man with a moustache that likes to build machines that destroy stuff to take over the world. That's the description I've pieced together about Eggman from Tails. Not really bad-guy material, I've seen better baddies in WCW during 2000, and believe me, they were awful. That's beside the point. What the hell kind of a bad guy gets nicknamed Eggman anyway? That's not a name that's going to strike fear into the hearts of the people is it? 'I am the mighty Eggman! I will rule your world with my robots!'"_

_"I mean, come on! This is all getting to be rather silly! I started out great telling you all about how I saved Sonic from drowning and now I've started insulting people that I've never met! That's about as clever as flaming people on the Internet, or trying to skateboard on ice! And believe me, that is not fun!"_

_"God I've gone way off topic now... Where was I? Oh yeah... Tails then showed me this gold rings that he has. Now that's some shiny bling-bling there! These rings right, they apparently hold 'special powers' that allows Sonic to charge up and use even greater speed and abilities to battle! Sounds pretty cool to me, but Tails told me that no-one apart from Sonic has tried to use them, which seems odd, since Tails carries a very large supply of the things in his Tornado, I'd thought they all could use them. Seems to me that Tails has a self-esteem problem, or doesn't believe in himself that much. I might help the guy out with that, it's the least I could do since they're all gonna stay here anyway."_

_"Well, I think that's enough of an entry for just now, no doubt that something will happen, but I'll talk about that later before I go to bed. Just as well I got this new microphone stuff installed, my hands would be aching if I had to type all this stuff out onto computer, but with the power of technology I can speak, and words appear! Anyway, this has been 4GOT10's diary entry for this morning, I better check on the news to see if Sonic or his buddies have made the news again. I hope that wherever you are Chris, you can read this. I miss you bro, so wish me luck. I have a bad feeling I'm gonna need it. Signed, Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke. 4GOT10."

* * *

_

Douglas clicked on the save icon on the screen, and switched off the microphone. Confirming the diary entry, he closed down the computer and walked out of the room. The events of the past two days had been a roller coaster to say the least, and presented a long list of problems. The police, the army, the S-Team, Sonic and his friends themselves, and his own stepfamily. Chuck and Douglas had agreed that Sonic, Tails, Cream and Cheese would be better off staying in Chuck's lab, since very rarely did anyone apart from Chuck was allowed up there. Chuck didn't want to take any risks in case an experiment or a new device of his was damaged or worse. Some thought that it was just an excuse to get some time alone, but no one dared to argue with such a respected figure. 

Douglas sighed as he walked down the stairs and headed towards the living room area with the large TV screen. He had subconsciously put on his usual clothing attire – black jeans, trainers, but today, to spice things up a bit, he put on one of his wrestling T-Shirts, the 4GOT10 'Missing' shirt. On the front of which read: 'Missing: My mind, my heart, my soul.' On the back read: 'Reward: Your survival. Contact 4GOT10, if you can...' If the people bought it, which some did, it was all good, even if it seemed odd. It made sense if you understood the whole wrestling character side of 4GOT10 that Douglas had created for himself. You needed a gimmick to make it in the wrestling business, and 4GOT10 was his, even if it was adapted from his real character...

Jumping over the back of the sofa, Douglas landed on it, facing the TV. He picked up the remote and switched on the screen, before flicking through the channels to find what he was looking for.  
"...Soap opera... Infomercial... Game Show... Digimon? No one watches that anymore do they? ...More commercials... Ah! Finally! The news channel!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are picking up a report of a disturbance in the beach area on the outskirts of Station Square that looks out onto the ocean. We are hearing the a large robot which is firing huge missiles that seem to be attached to the robot's own arms via a strong metal rope or cord is reeking havoc there, destroying property and frightening the people there! There are no casualties or people hurt yet, but many small buildings have been severely damaged, and many cars have been totally destroyed! We can now show you images of the scene..."

The screen showed a street area, the road covered with burning wrecks of cars and other vehicles, many of which had been either partially or completely flattened. Buildings had large holes in the sides of them, windows smashed to pieces, and people were standing around in disbelief.  
"This robot was accompanied by a strange man who was travelling around in a strange flying pod-like craft..." the voice of the female reporter continued, "...who was giving out orders to the robot, who eyewitness have confirmed to us was called 'E-23'. This photo was taken by an amateur photographer at the scene..."

A picture of a fat man laughing was shown, who was sitting in a very strange looking contraption. The man was large, bald, and had a long orange moustache...  
'That matches the description that Tails gave of... Eggman!' Douglas reasoned in his head, before barging out the door to the outside, and heading towards Chuck's lab, hoping that Sonic hadn't chosen this moment to go off on another run.

* * *

Outside of Chuck's lab, Tails was using a water hose to wash down the Tornado, having just finishing off cleaning it, as Chuck was standing by him. Behind them, on the grassy lawn, Cream was sitting at a table while Cheese was sitting on it, happily eating its way through a plate of mini- donuts. 

"Hee-hee!" Tails said happily as the water splashed into the side of his 'plane. "It's sparkling!" Tails was very proud of his creations, even when he'd just finished doing a simple task of cleaning it. The Tornado wasn't even that dirty, Tails just wanted to make quite sure, just in case.  
"I'm sure that if you keep spraying, it'll sparkle even more!" Chuck replied, also a little proud to see such an accomplishment. A built-from- scratch, fully working aeroplane! Chuck wondered if there were many more things that Tails and himself could create together.

"Is it good?" Cream asked her Chao friend, as her elbows rested on the table, which allowed her head to lightly rest on her hands as she watched her friend eat.  
"Chao, chao!" Cheese happily replied, nodding its head. Cream giggled in reply, happy for her friend after the events in Area 99 that had scared them both.

"Tails! Chuck! Anyone?" a voice called out. Cream around, and noticed Douglas running up from the house, seemingly in a hurry.  
"What is it?" Tails inquired, as Douglas brought himself to a halt beside where he and Chuck were standing.  
"It's too much to hope for that Sonic's around is it?" Douglas asked in reply.  
"Mr. Sonic said that he was going out for a little run, but I can't remember when that was..." Cream said, as Cheese looked over, wondering what the rush was.  
"Damn him! I told him he shouldn't go out of the house! But noooooo! He won't listen to me will he? I knew something bad was going to happen today, and now he'd vanished again! How are we going to find him now?"  
"It won't be that hard to find Sonic, will it?" Tails asked, still watering down the Tornado  
"Hmmm...I guess not..." Douglas replied thoughtfully, "I mean, how many other blue hedgehogs are there..."  
"In any case, do you need him for something?"  
Douglas snapped back into reality. "Tails! Remember that Eggman guy you told me about yesterday?"  
"Well... Yeah..."  
"I think he's here, and he's got some robot and it's destroying the city!"

* * *

The foot of E-23 rose up, before swiftly coming down onto of the front of an abandoned car, instantly flattening it as the large robot, nicknamed 'Missile-Wrist' slowly marched down the street, one metallic foot at a time. E-23 scanned ahead, and identified a number of cars that were blocking the street, which had shining lights on top of them. There were also several uniformed men behind the vehicles, many of which were carrying weaponry. A police roadblock. 

"STOP!" the voice of one of the police men called out, who was speaking through a megaphone. "IF YOU DO NOT STOP THEN WE WILL BE FORCED TO OPEN FIRE!"

E-23 carried on moving forward, unfazed by the warning, seeing the policemen's words as more of a challenge. Plus, it only took orders from his creator, Doctor Eggman. Anyone standing in the way of it carry out it's master's orders was a threat to his master, and must be eliminated.

"FIRE!" The officer screamed through the megaphone, seeing that the robot wasn't stopping. Instantly, the officers behind the cars fired at the robot using sniper rifles and handguns, rapidly firing off rounds at the robot. The bullets hit the robot, but bounded off its hardened metal armour without causing a scratch. Round upon round hit E-23, but not at one moment did the robot even seem to slow down or show signs of stopping.

Above E-23, it's creator and master, Doctor Eggman, rode high above him in his flying pod, leaning against the side of it, resting his head in his hand in a sign of boredom and disinterest in this 'feeble attempt' of resistance to him. Feeble in the world he came from at least. Eggman mockingly laughed at the firing policemen.  
"There's a word for this: BORING! Is that all you've got?" He called down at them.

Without warning, a man in heavy armour, overalls, a facemask and protective goggles appeared between a gab between the cars in the roadblock, brandishing a powerful looking gun that was attached with a pipe to two tanks that the man wore on his back. It was a flamethrower. The man pulled the trigger on the gun, and a burning shot of flames scorched out of the gun's nozzle, hitting the robot and turning it into a flaming machine, as it's whole body became covered in fire. The machine seemed to be unfazed, continuing to walk ahead, but then, with a loud whirring of gears and controls, it came to a full stop, standing still. The policemen behind the roadblock looked on as the robot stood burning.

"Good work boys, we've done it!" The officer with the megaphone said without speaking into the 'phone, with a smug on his face. He was sure to get a promotion for solving this problem.

But this moment of pride was short lived, as the flames suddenly vanished from the robot, as it leaned forward towards the officers in defiance. Now fed up with the whole situation, Eggman lowered his craft so he could get a close look at the police force sent to stop him.

"Fools!" he directed at them "Did you really think those were strong enough? Who's the one giving orders here?"  
"Umm... I am?" The leading officer said timidly, now lacking the pride he had before.  
"Will you stand aside or do I have to make you feel the full force of E- 23's power?"  
"We... Give... Up..."  
"Hmm... I can't stand quitters! Missile-Wrist, make an example out of them – give them what they deserve!" Eggman called down as he took up back into the sky.

Without needing another command, the robot lifted up one of its heavy arms, aiming the missile at the end towards the roadblock, before firing without another thought.

* * *

High above Station Square, away from the disturbances, the Tornado and it's pilot were searching for Sonic. Tails was worried, the robot he'd seen on the news programme that Douglas showed them looked tough, and he knew that Sonic was the only one capable of really defeating Eggman. 

"I wonder where Sonic is..." Tails said to himself as looked over the side of his 'plane, hoping to spot Sonic. Although finding his friend was an important factor running through his mind, he had some concerns about his new friend, Douglas.  
'I know I'm not used to seeing humans, but Douglas seems very different from anyone I've met before. He was very nice to us all, but why was he so angry at Sonic yesterday? Nobody can stop Sonic, doesn't he know that? Why does he always wear dark clothes as well, doesn't he want people to know he's really a friendly guy? I wonder who that '4GOT10' person is who was on Douglas' T-Shirt, and why does he call Chuck his Step-Grandfather...'

* * *

On ground level, just beside a large park area, Chuck and Douglas were looking around for Sonic as well, and were not having a very fruitful search. 

"It's no good Chuck, I just can't see him anywhere. The guy could be miles away, there's no real way of knowing when he'll be back..." Douglas said, lowering the binoculars from his eyes. He'd looked around the whole park area, without success.  
"I know, he just doesn't seem to be around here eh? Let's look somewhere else..." Chuck replied, starting up the car again, and moving off. The radio started up again, but Douglas wasn't listening to it. He was lost in his own thought.  
'Great work Douglas; Sonic's probably run off to spite you after all you said yesterday! The one time you'd actually like the hedgehog around and he's not there! Damn it! Why'd you always have to mess everything up? You life, your stepfamily, and now this as well! No wonder your so damn forgotten!' He mentally cursed himself, ignoring the fact that he should still be looking for Sonic.

* * *

Far away from the fear-filled streets of Station Square, a lone figure stood atop a mighty cliff, with his arms folded across his chest, gazing at the majestic sight of the snow-capped mountain in front of him. The blue figure, proud of himself, smiled and laughed to himself, before running down the sloping rock face, seemingly without fear. Sonic never faltered, never hesitated, even when the edge of the cliff loomed closer and closer towards him. When he reached the edge, he didn't stop or attempt to slow himself down, he simply jumped over the side, screaming out at the rush he was getting as he plummeted into the unknown darkness below him.

* * *

The red and yellow shoes with the metal buckle and green tops walked ahead purposely, as the red and white boots faltered behind. Knuckles and Amy had remained silent since the last 'talk' before. Knuckles had no reason to communicate with the girl, she was an unwanted burden right now, who would only cause annoyance and talk about Sonic who was responsible for this situation anyway. Amy was slightly afraid to talk with the Guardian Echidna, for she knew he had a short temper and wasn't one to have any sort of real conversation with. Plus, he didn't get on well with her Sonikku, so they didn't really have anything to talk about. 

Despite that, Amy was tired. She didn't have the strength or stamina that Knuckles possessed, and they had been walking non-stop for a good few hours now through these underground passages. Amy reasoned they must be in some kind of pipe-system, but was worried where they led. Or where they came from.

"Knuckles, can't we even take a little break?" Amy asked hopefully.  
"You take a break if you want to, but I'm not stopping. I'm not responsible if you don't follow me, I didn't want you tagging along in the first place!" Knuckles replied, without looking back.

Amy frowned, that was far from the answer that she wanted. 'Why does Knuckles have to be so inconsiderate?' She asked herself in her mind. 'Still... I'd worry more with Knuckles on his own... This is a strange world, he could get himself hurt... Maybe a little casual conversation would lighten the mood!'

"Knuckles... What do you think the chances are of getting back home?" Amy asked, moving up to beside Knuckles.  
"I don't think that we're going back, I KNOW we're going back!" Knuckles replied, looking over at her.  
"But how can we? Are you that sure?"  
"I not sure how we'll get back, but I have to get back. As soon as I find a way to get back to the Floating Island, then I'm out of here. That's what I'm looking for. In any case..." Knuckles' voice trailed off slightly, as an image appeared in his head.

* * *

The image of Knuckles sitting on the final step of the vast flight of steps that led to the top of ancient ruins of the master emerald shrine appeared in his mind. 

"...If I... If I can't go back... I won't be able to go to it..."

Behind him, the Master Emerald, the controller of the Chaos Emeralds, the balance of power between the light and the dark energy of the emeralds, and the power source of the Floating Island, glowed brightly with Chaos Energy, symbolising that all was well in the island.

"...No matter what it takes... I must return to it... Because... I must protect it..."

Knuckles sat, his mighty gloved hands across his chest, covering the silver crescent moon on his chest, the sign of his guardian status, ready to use his namesake knuckles on his fists to defend the emerald.

* * *

"...Better to die than to be denied my destiny, my purpose in life, my mission, my existence..." 

Amy was shocked by the trance-like state the Knuckles was currently in, Knuckles was so fixed by the vision in his mind that he had stopped in his tracks. She wasn't really sure how much the Master Emerald meant to him, butAmy was also entranced by his desire to carry out his 'job' of guarding the emerald and the island.

"...That's why I cannot allow myself to linger in this world a second longer than is necessary. Until I do find a way back, I not going to rest or get sidetracked..."

**THUMP!**

The heavy sound above him caused Knuckles to be sidetracked from his thoughts of the emerald, as he looked up to identify the sound. Knuckles saw what appeared to be a climbable ladder that led upwards, but where he couldn't rightly see due to the lack of light where it led to.

**THUMP!**

**THUMP!**

Knuckles ran over to the ladder, and looked up. In the distance above him, he could see small streams of light shining through from above. There was a way to the surface, and out of these tunnels!

"What's that?" Knuckles thought out loud. His ears detected another sound, the sound of a frightened whimper. He looked over his shoulder at a worried Amy. Knuckles frowned at this show of fear, totally unacceptable to his guardian line. But he knew himself that he could not leave Amy in the darkened tunnels like this, for like it or not, he had to look after her right now, at least until he found the others. Knowing full well the powers of Chaos Control, it was very likely that Sonic and Tails were in this world, and would be able to take care of Amy, but it also presented the possibility that Eggman was in this world...  
"...Follow me Amy..." Knuckles said, as he started using the ladder to climb upwards. He knew Amy was following, as he heard the sounds on her boots climbing below. He didn't know it, as he was too concentrated in reaching the surface, but Amy was smiling as she looked up at the red Echidna. She'd finally seen Knuckles show emotions other than anger and violence...

Knuckles pushed the manhole cover up, and looked around. He was in a street, and around him, the wreckages of smashed up cars lie across the road and at the sides of the street. Past them, a large robot, with what appeared to be missiles at the ends of it's arms walked ahead, with a loud thumping sound echoing around when it took a step. That explained the noise perfectly, and Knuckles had a good idea who the robot was working for...  
"Knuckles... Is that one of?" Amy tried to ask, still afraid of what is was.  
"I'm afraid so Amy... It's one of Eggman's creations..."

* * *

'Another boring day at the office this has turned out to be...' a worker thought to himself as he walked away for his lunch break, holding his briefcase in his hand. He walked towards the set of automatic door that where the main entrance/exit of the bank as they slid open. It was then that he noticed that there was a huge shadow covering where he stood.  
'Funny... It was sunny when I left my office...' He looked up and saw what had happened. The sun was still out, but there was a giant unfriendly looking robot that was blocking out the sunlight.  
'A HUGE ROBOT?' 

The man then ran in opposite direction screaming, dropping his briefcase in the process. The briefcase was the least of his worries at the moment, since the robot had just head-butted it's way through the glass windows and the doors that made up the entrance. The people looked up in horror as the robot slowly marched inside and knocked over a large sized table in the middle of the room. The bank workers behind the bulletproof protective glass cowered in fear as one of them set off the security alarm. The alarm bell rang out loudly as the E-23 moved it's domed head around, taking in the surrounding. A woman ran off into a back room, two men helped carry a woman who'd fainted out of the area. There was no resistance.

* * *

Outside, Eggman smiled at the images he was receiving from Missile- Wrist. The bank alarm would attract the attention of people, which meant Eggman could easily declare his taking over to the soon-to-be masses of the Eggman Empire. 

"E-23! Get to the rooftop. We can cause much more damage from up there!  
_"Roger"_ The Doctor heard E-23 reply frominside the bank through the radio-waves. Though Eggman couldn't see it happening, his creation of distruction was aimingone of itsmissiles upwards and firing, instantly causing a huge hold in the roof above him.

Eggman had made his craft rise up to the height of the roof of the bank. He looked below; as a swarm of police cars appeared by the way E- 23 had gone inside. Eggman let out a hearty laugh.  
"It appears I'm attracting quite a crowd with my little robot! It's just like an observation window up here!" The Doctor looked around to the building again, and saw one of the missiles blast through the roof's surface and into the air, before four grappling hooks on the side of the missile popped out as it came back down, causing it to lock itself securely to the floor of the roof.

_"Proceeding to upper structural surface. Going up."_ The robot called from below, before proceeding to use the winch system in its arm to pull itself up to the roof using the cord that attached the missile to the robot's arm.

The assembled police force looked in shock as the side of the bank started exploding, seemingly floor-by-floor, before an explosion occurred on the roof itself. The Chief of police himself looked up in amazement as the giant robot that he'd been radioed about stood up, seemingly as proud as the round man in the flying pod was. An uneasy silenced followed, as clouds of thick dust bellowed out of the sides and the roof of the bank. The silence seemed to the police and to the people of Station Square to last for a lifetime. To Eggman, it lasted five seconds, time enough to make his demands.

"Let's get this show on the air! It's about time to introduce myself to my subjects!" Eggman grinned as he pressed a button on his control panel, which caused a small camera lens to appear on top of the viewing screen of his craft. The button also activated a transmission blocker, which affected all television and public radio channels in the whole Station Square area. Out of nowhere, a large image of Eggman appeared in the sky above the police force, the image that now appeared on TV screens around the city.

"Everyone, listen well to this message, and please allow me to introduce myself: My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Doctor Eggman! The true form of genius! Right now I hope you all notice me via my Eggman Network. I have some very exciting news for you all! Well, exciting for me, perhaps catastrophic for you! I have decided to build the foundation of the Eggman Empire upon this world, starting with your city! As of now this entire world belongs to Doctor Eggman! Resistance is pointless and anyone who does will be swept away like dust bunnies!" Eggman then roared out loud with one his trademark evil laughs, unsettling for normal people, and a warning for others.

* * *

"You were right Douglas, Eggman is here!" Tails said, as he watched the TV screen.  
"Yeah, but I don't always feel this bad about being right Tails. That robot of his looks very deadly, I mean, the thing's got missiles comin' out its arms!"  
"We can see that Douglas, but the fact of the matter is something needs to be done about him and fast before anymore of the city gets destroyed!" Chuck said, looking at the image of the laughing doctor.  
"But how will we do that Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked, looking just as worried as the Chao in her hands.  
"It's time like these that two options come to mind Cream..." Douglas said, reaching into his pocket, "You either run for the hills..." Douglas then pulled out his 'fighting gloves from his pocket and slipped them on. "...Or you fight for them. Looks like we're gonna have to make up a plan, so let's start thinking..."

* * *

"Is that robot yours?" The police chief shouted up at Eggman using a megaphone. He was easily identifiable by his spotless white uniform and his blond bushy moustache.  
"That's correct! You people may be smarter than your appear!" The Doctor arrogantly replied with a smirk.  
"Then hurry up and get your robot out of the way, and turn yourself in! That thing could hit a 'plane!"  
"...You must be joking, surely?"  
"I'm serious buster! Now pull that thing you're in over and let's see your licence and registration!" 

Eggman frowned. "Perhaps I was wrong about you people after all, you are quite stupid to stand against me! I am the one giving the orders around here now!"  
"Oh yeah? And what makes you think so?" The chief challenged.  
"Well, since I'm unable to give you my registration, how about I give you a DEMONSTRAION?" Eggman called back, snapping his fingers together.

Once Eggman had given that signal, E-23 instantly fired off a missile from its position on top of the bank, straight downwards off the side of the building. Looking upwards, the police officers and their Chief could only gasp in horror at the approaching sight as the missile smashed directly the police car that was nearest to the men. The force of the impact was so strong that it sent a massive cloud of dust and debris up into the surrounding air. Just as quickly, the winch system in Missile- Wrist's arm began pulling the cord back inside it, bringing up the weapon with it until it slotted firmly back into place in the arm.

"Now you see the full force of my power! Surrender now, and I won't have to resort to violence again!" Eggman beamed down again to the police force, still covered in the cloud of dust, although Eggman noted that a tyre from the car that was hit was now bouncing down the road, thrown off its axel by the attack.

The dust below began to settle, and only the police Chief could be seen amongst the wreckages of the police cars, his once pure-white uniform now discoloured and torn, his police cap rested slanted on his head, every part of him was now covered in dust. Strangely, he was holding on tightly to a tyre off one of the cars.  
"...I think my work's done here... This looks like a job for the mayor..." The glasses that rested over Eggman's eyes seemed to glow brightly either from the light of the sun, or the anticipation of victory.

"Bring him to me, then I will become your mayor!" Eggman almost manically roared, before bursting out into a full-blown manic laughter, which rang out in the streets of Station Square.

* * *

  
Flip Card 1 – Knuckles

Full Real Name: Unknown  
Nickname(s): Knuckles, Knucklehead, the Guardian  
Age: 16  
Gender: Male  
Likes: Fruits, treasure hunting, guarding the master emerald, fighting  
Dislikes: Thieves, anything that prevents his duties as guardian, Sonic.  
Identifying features: Red dread locked Echidna, has white crescent moon on his chest, two spiked knuckles stick out from each fist, hence his nickname. Often seen guarding the master emerald.

* * *

  
Flip Card 2 – Amy

Full Real Name: Amy Rose Hedgehog  
Nickname(s): Ames, the Pink One  
Age: 12  
Gender: Female  
Likes: 'Her' Sonikku, shopping, fortune cards  
Dislikes: Anything that hurts/prevents her from seeing Sonic, not being with Sonic, boredom.  
Identifying features: Pink hedgehog, often wears a red dress with a white trim and a red hair band, often carries a hidden number of 'Piko-Piko Hammers'

* * *

  
Part 2

The Tornado's engine roared out as the propellers rapidly spun around, with its trusty pilot Tails in the front seat, as Chuck, Cream and Cheese looked on as Tails finished up the pre-flight checks. Everything had to be working perfectly; there wouldn't be many second chances against Eggman. Tails looked nervously over his shoulder back towards the garage.

"Douglas, hurry up!" Tails called out, urgency ringing out in his words.  
"I'm here Tails, let's go!" Douglas said, or at least, someone with Douglas' voice.

Douglas hurriedly ran towards the Tornado, but he was dressed in strange clothing and was carrying a rucksack on his back. He was wearing black leather pants and boots, nothing unusual there, but his pants had interesting marking on the left leg, which looked like they had been applied by spray-paint, and similarly applied words on the right, that read: '4GOT10'. He wore a tight fitting short-sleeved top that had the word 'GOT' printed on it, and the number four in front of it but slightly above, and the number ten after it but slightly below. Both numbers were spray painted on instead of printed, so that '4GOT10' was readable on it. He was also wearing black elbow pads, and those strange gloves of his that Tails had notice yesterday when Douglas and Sonic had nearly gotten into a brawl. Douglas had also applied some interesting face-paint under his eyes, that gave the impression of a stream of tears, but since the paint was red, it looked from a distance to be like blood. Sort of like war paint.

Douglas quickly ran past the group of three watching, tossed the bag into the passenger seat, and hopped into the seat, placing the bag at his feat and strapping himself in. As he jumped up, Tails, Cream and Cheese noticed that Douglas was also wearing a black armband, which had a name on it. The name was: 'Chris'.

"Do you really think that it was necessary to put on your FULL wrestling attire Douglas?" Chuck asked annoyed; now seeing what the hold up was.  
"There's no point in going into battle if you're not fully prepared Chuck!" Douglas retorted, looking as Tails repaired to make the Tornado go airborne.  
"Hmm... Take care of Douglas Tails!"  
"Leave it to me!" Tails replied, giving the thumbs up as worked the controls.  
"If Sonic shows up, tell us about it! We might need all the help we can get if Eggman can smash up the cops like that!"  
"Of course we will Mr. Douglas!" Cream said happily, realising that this was still Douglas under all the weird clothing.  
"Right now Cream, just call me 4GOT10." "Then let's go!" Tails said, focused at the mission at hand.

With a simple push of a button, the Tornado began moving forward down the stretch of concrete from the garage, rapidly picking up speed, until just when that stretch met up with the main road towards the house, the Tornado pulled upwards, flying high above the hedges and the trees, heading towards the centre of the city, leaving behind a Chuck who was nodding in approval, and a confused Cream and Cheese.

"... Did Mr. Douglas just say 'You're rotten?" Cream asked her Chao friend.  
"Chao?" Cheese replied, just as unsure.  
"I'll explain later..." Chuck said, watching the 'plane take off into the distance.

* * *

The face of Eggman from the hovering screen looked around with a mixed expression of anger, frustration, and annoyance. He had not expected that taking over a city of people with seemingly no defences would be this hard to do. All they had to do was wave a white flag, become obedient and unquestioning servants of the Eggman Empire, and allow their city to be crushed to the ground to make way for the first in a number of cities built in honour of himself, was that so much to ask? It seemed very easy to him, but then again, he did have an IQ of over 300. He doubted if anyone person on this city had and IQ of over 50... 

Eggman looked down, as the police Chief, now fresh from the police station with a new uniform and a quick wash up, handed a megaphone to a smartly dressed man in a suit. Although perhaps properly dressed to great the new ruler of this city, he did not seem a very imposing or dangerous figure. Therefore he must be a politician.

'So this must be the 'Mayor' that talk about... What a pushover this world must be!'  
"Well? What's your answer?" He called down, still annoyed at how long this had taken.  
"Dr. Eggman!" The Mayor called up through the 'phone. "We will not be ordered around by the likes of terrorists like you!

Eggman arched an eyebrow. Him? A terrorist? That's fighting talk! "Wrong!" Eggman mockingly called back, before smiling down at the assembled force below. "I think you need a reminder at just who you are dealing with!" Once again, Eggman gave the signal to his robot by arrogantly snapping his figures.

This time, E-23 fired off both of its missiles into the building directly behind where the Mayor and the police were standing. The suddenness of the attack caused the group to instantly dive for cover when the projectiles impacted with the glass and the outside structure of the building. The Mayor looked upwards over his shoulder at the debris cloud that was pouring out of the impact zone, which unlike the blast before was large enough to rise upwards into the air several stories and cover the assembled people below.

"Are you still so confident now 'Mayor'?" Eggman called down again. "Perhaps that has finally changed your mind?"

The Mayor coughed and spluttered, trying to remove the dust from his mouth and nose as the cloud began to drift away. Eggman grinned even more when he saw that the dust had actually thickly covered the people below, so that the police officers, their Chief and the Mayor were now just lumpy human figurines of dust, the Mayor only really identifiable by the likewise dust covered megaphone he was holding.  
"...I'm sorry, but that's the decision of our President... Our constitution states that we can't actually surrender cities like this..." the Mayor managed to meekly get out.

Eggman frowned even deeper that before, disappointed at the lack of respect and understanding from these people. It looked like he was going to have to destroy the city after all. He sighed, before looking over at his robot standing on the roof of the bank. "E-23... Change of plan, be sure to..."

"STOP RIGHT NOW EGGMAN!"

Eggman quickly looked over his shoulder, and saw the rapidly looming sight of a light aircraft hurtling towards him, but not just any craft, it was the Tornado! Eggman saw from the look in the pilot's eyes that this was not a friendly flyer. It was Miles Prower, known better as Tails. In the young fox's eyes was a look of hatred towards his frequent enemy. Although the fox was not the most intimidating of foes, he was still dangerous, and not to be underestimated. Tails also had a passenger in the back seat, so unlike Tails, seemed to be a most threatening person. Purple hair, dark clothes, and blood-red face-paint made him look very unfriendly, and not seemingly a person to expect to be on the 'good guy' side. He too had a look of anger upon his face, but since he looked human, Eggman assumed he was fighting to protect his city from attack, not due to Eggman's reputation (since no one around seemed to know it). A noble, but foolhardy, cause in Eggman's eyes, which deserved respect.

"CHARGE!" The voice of the passenger called out, which caused Eggman to quickly duck down to avoid the incoming airplane as it dived right over him, but he didn't duck quite low enough to avoid being struck in the back of the head. Eggman called out in pain as he pulled himself back up, before feeling a rapidly growing lump in the back of his head. He now saw what had caused the pain – the human passenger in the Tornado was smirking back at Eggman in satisfaction, and was holding what looked to be a baseball bat! Rapidly the Doctor saw the situation as it really was: This was going to be difficult. Tails was an experienced pilot and dog-fighter, and that human wasn't going to back down. Eggman was now glad he picked such a strong robot to battle with.

"So Tails was sent to this world as well eh? No matter, he will be no match to my superior mechas!"

Tails brought the Tornado upwards, heading upwards above the higher rooftops to get a good look at the robot Eggman had brought with him that had caused so much damage to the surrounding area. Looking down, Tails saw the large, chunky robot with the missile hands that had been on the news. Almost at the same time, E-23 locked on its scanners on the 'plane, identifying the latest target.

"E-23! Change of plan! I want you to shoot that 'plane out of the sky at all costs!"  
_"Roger."_ The robot replied, electronically locking onto the 'plane, and raising one of its arms and targeting the aircraft.

"Ha-Ha! Did ya see me get him Tails?" Douglas, or more rightly, 4GOT10, called out, just as Missile-Wrist fired a missile up at the Tornado, just missing the rear wing tip of the 'plane.  
"Then again, that robot might get us if we ain't careful!" Douglas reasoned, as a second missile came firing upwards, causing Tails to lower the craft so the missile sailed over the Tornado, before Tails reversed the procedure and brought the Tornado up so a missile went underneath.  
"God damn that thing's bloody accurate! What the hell does Eggman feed them on? Oil full of steroids?" 4GOT10 shouted out.  
"Don't worry Douglas, this time we've got him!" Tails called back, as he turned the Tornado around in the air, so that he travelling straight towards Eggman's robot.  
"Its 4GOT10 right now Tails!" 4GOT10 called out, seeing the robot below raise its arms towards them both. Tails didn't hear him; he was too focused on payback for the damage the robot has caused to the city.

E-23 fired his missiles up to hit the Tornado, but Tails all to easily had the robot's attack pattern worked out, and tilted the 'plane left and right to avoid the incoming attacks. Seeing the robot defenceless, Tails put the Tornado's own weaponry into action. Tails pressed down hard on the red button on top of the control stick he had holding on to, which activated the machine guns at the front. The guns blazed as the laser fire peppered the roof of the building, travelling quickly towards the robot before shots slammed into the chest area of it. It didn't leave a scratch.

"The attack didn't work!" Tails said, looking over his shoulder at the robot as he brought the craft up to attempt another run.  
"No Shit Tails! What the hell are we... SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ONE?" 4GOT10 shouted out, looking down.

The robot had fired another missile off its arm again, but this time, four hook-like arms suddenly stuck out from its sides. That wasn't all though, as soon after the hooks locked in place, what appeared to be rocket boosters activated, causing the missile to greatly increase in speed, as well as danger. Tails instinctively grabbed a firm hold of the control stick with both hands, as he pulled with all his might to bring the Tornado out of harms way. 4GOT10 looked down as the missile and the Tornado seemed to be on a very certain collision course. This was another of those times that he wished he wasn't right. Unfortunately, he was correct, but not by much. Tails' efforts had not been in vain, as when the missile and the Tornado reached the same vertical level, the only damaged caused by the missile was that it clipped the propellers of the 'plane off, leaving the rest of the 'plane fully intact. But the term 'only damaged' is used loosely, since the damage was actually very serious. No propellers No flight. Sure enough, this simple law of physics was evident as the Tornado began slopping downwards, causing the 'plane to shudder and jolt.

"ARGH! We've lost the propeller!" Tails called out in a mix of terror and fear, in a tone high enough to be that of a girly scream.  
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! ASSUME CRASH POSITIONS!" 4GOT10 shouted out in reply, as he ducked his head down in preparation for a very bumpy landing.  
_"Enemy aircraft target has suffered a direct hit. Mission accomplished"_ Missile-Wrist confirmed to itself as it watched the Tornado fall over the side of the building and disappear out of view.  
"Any parachutes would be damn useful right now Tails!" Douglas said, looking over Tails shoulder, as Tails pushed a combination of buttons and pulled up an interesting looking leaver.  
"No need, I've got it all worked out!" Tails said, as 4GOT10 felt the 'plane shudder again, but very differently, as if something was happening to the 'plane itself. He heard a series of interesting whirring sounds, before he had to shield his own eyes to block out a bright blue light that suddenly appeared around the Tornado.

When 4GOT10 opened his eyes, he was shocked to see that not only hadn't they crashed, but the 'plane had transformed itself! "What the hell?"  
"It's okay! No problem for the Tornado's speed mode!" Tails proudly called back  
"YOU TELLING' ME THIS THING TRANSFORMS? HOLY..." 4GOT10 was interrupted by another missile being fired upwards towards them.  
_"Warning! Target has healed itself and has increased its aerodynamics by 100! Orders of the great Doctor Eggman have not been completed! Enemy aircraft must be destroyed!"_ E-23 declared as it began repeatedly firing and retracting its missiles as it attempted again to bring the Tornado and it's crew out of the sky.

* * *

Down in the streets below, the people who had been evacuated out of the bank gazed up in wonder at the battle that was happening above them. They had never seen anything like this kind of battle before, not even in movies or Robot Wars. Only two people in the crowd could say they were used to this kind of thing happening, the two known as Knuckles and Amy. 

"Knuckles! That's Tails up there!" Amy said, recognising the markings of the Tornado. She turned around to talk directly to the Echidna, her movement causing him to look at her. "Aren't you going up there to help him?" Amy asked, her eyes full of hopefulness.

Knuckles looked at the pink hedgehog and knew what she meant. She wanted him to go up there and put his ass on the line because Tails had messed up again and couldn't fight back. He had his own priorities. Unless Eggman had the Master Emerald or all the Chaos Emeralds, he wasn't his problem right now. "It's not my concern Amy, let the fox fight his own battles, it's about time he fought for himself."  
Amy's expression then turned to one of frustration. "Why do you have to be so selfish all the time Knuckles! Can't you think of someone other than yourself for once?" She shouted at Knuckles, before turning and running off a hole in the side of the bank.  
"Hey, HEY! Get back here Amy!" Knuckles shouted out, but Amy was already stepping over some fallen stonework and was inside the building and out of sight. Knuckles growled in frustration. "Does that girl ALWAYS have to be looked after? I have enough problems with the Master Emerald, and now I'm having to hold her hand all day!" Knuckles then quickly set off after her, going through the same gap she did.

Knuckles looked around, and saw Amy standing in front of an elevator, just as the bell rang to signify that the lift had arrived. Amy stepped inside it, and reached up to press the button that would take her to the roof. "AMY!" Knuckles shouted out, as he ran towards the lift. Amy looked slightly puzzled at why Knuckles was so suddenly coming after her. "Wait up!" Amy turned her head away from him and folded her arms across her chest just as the elevator doors closed shut.

From inside the lift, Amy could faintly hear Knuckles say something. Amy smiled to herself, maybe now Knuckles would think about wider situations than just his emerald. Yet something inside Amy made her feel bad about leaving Knuckles like that, he was probably only trying to be nice... But why was Amy think so much about this? Amy and Knuckles hadn't really known that much about each other, the past few days and nights together had been interesting... But they would probably mean nothing in the future... Would they?

"Damn it! I bet this happens each and every time with the others! Doesn't Amy know it's dangerous to use elevators during an emergency?" Knuckles said out loud in frustration. Amy was a pretty tough girl, as he'd found out during the past few days with her. Not many people could keep up with Knuckles' pace, but without sounding to chauvinistic, for a female to do the same was an impressive feat. Knuckles guess that it was due to all the time she spent chasing after Sonic... But now Knuckles had to find a way to get to the roof, and quickly... Knuckles then noticed a small sign above a doorway. It read: 'EXIT'. Knuckles rushed through the doorway, and found himself looking the flight of emergency stairs in a tall vertical room that led to every floor. He smirked, the walls on the side were strong enough, and had a big enough gap from the stairs. Lifts were fast, but no one was faster at climbing than the Guardian Knuckles...

* * *

Sonic's feet moved faster than the eye could see, as Sonic ran from no place in particular to just outside of parts unknown. This was his style, his life. He went wherever the wind took him, and lived life according to his own rules. Sonic didn't even really think twice about the warnings Douglas had been giving him about staying in the lab out of sight. Sitting around doing nothing all day just didn't sound like a good deal, when you could easily run around and explore. This strange new planet that he and his friends had been sent to had the advantages of new places to discover, since he'd been all over Mobius. Who knows what kind of surprises lied in store around the next corner. Sonic really didn't want to be on bad terms with Douglas, he seemed like a cool enough guy. Sonic had crashed in his room the night he fell into his pool (or his Step-Parents pool, whatever that meant), and was quite impressed. There was an impressive collection of music that ranged from heavy metal to rock and hip-hop, with some interesting pop and other types thrown in. Also a collection of movies and video games, full of characters he'd never heard of before, but he wished he knew some of them. That Sly Cooper guy looked slick! Sonic kinda felt that he owed Douglas at least something in return for pulling him out of the pool; it was just a matter of time. Douglas just seemed to be too worried about all these rules and stuff and the 'government' and the 'army'. Sonic had proven that he couldn't be stopped by them; and with his good friends by his side, he was unstoppable. Yet Douglas also seemed confident in himself as well. The way he dressed, the way he looked, and his appearance spoke volumes before his mouth did. How he didn't hesitate to want to fight even after seeing what he'd done in Area 99. He must have been pretty sure of his fighting skills... Those gloves of his did seem pretty battle worn... 

Sonic effortlessly ran past lines of traffic, past mountains and hills, past small towns and villages, without a second thought about who might notice, even though he'd just passed a group of people who were standing around...  
'Huh? A couple of days ago, everyone was just staring at me, I wonder what's taking their attention...' Without another thought, Sonic had 180'd and raced back towards the town he'd gone though. He brought himself to a full stop, causing a small dust cloud to appear out from his feet due to the sudden friction of the halt in movement. Sonic blinked once, then twice. The group of people weren't even paying a single bit of attention to the appearance of the blue hedgehog; in fact, they seemed to be all huddle in front of an electronics shop, that had the name 'Tony' written on it. The number of people standing there made it impossible to see what they were looking at, but they all seemed to be talking to each other about it. Sonic had to get a closer look.

Sonic took a short run and leapt up to a high branch of a tree that was just behind the group of people. From this vantage point, Sonic could easily look down and see what was attracting so much attention. Television monitors were stacked in the window, and were all switched on (as is common with most shops that sell electronic goods). Each screen showed the same image – A fat bald man with a long orange moustache, who was wearing a bright red coat with big yellow buttons on it, who was laughing loudly at something.

Sonic's eyes narrowed at the sight of his arch-nemesis. "Eggman..." Sonic almost sneered, despising the name. "...Tails was right, he did get sent here after all..." The image on the screen changed to that of a strange looking robot who was firing what seemed to be retractable missiles at a strange jet plane/aeroplane hybrid that had four wings that were in an X-shape. Every time the robot fired a missile, the craft would dodge the shot, and the missile would return to the robot thanks to the cord that attached it to the robot's arm. The image caused many in the crowd to gasp and murmur, as did the following close-up image of the two people in the 'plane. Well, one person and a fox anyway. Sonic smiled.  
"Heh! Looks like there's a party that's started without me! This should be interesting." Sonic then pushed himself off from the branch he was on, and landed firmly on the ground before racing off once again, but this time with a destination in mind: Station Square. Sonic left the village behind him, as the crowd continued to be fixed firmly on the game of 'Cat and Mouse' going on before them.

"If I don't hurry, I'll miss all the fun!"

* * *

"What's taking this lift so long? Tails is in trouble!" Amy thought aloud as she watched the electronic display above the lift door read off the floor numbers. It looked like there were still a number of floors to go. Amy sighed. She was now starting to feel bad about ignoring Knuckles back there. 

'Don't worry about him!' Amy thought to herself, 'You're hardly friends with the guy anyway, it's not as if he cares about me... No... Why would he come after me then? Maybe it's just that 'Guardian' spirit of his... Hmph, I bet he's just doing this until he can drop me off with someone who can look after me properly! How does he think he'd going to find his way back home by himself anyway? He knows just as much about this place as I do! He's such a Knucklehead! URGH! How come I always have to be stuck with these second-rate kids! I'm more of an adult than Sonic will ever be! He doesn't even care about my feelings! Why did I have to fall in love with him? Why can't I control my emotions like Knuckles can?' Amy mentally scolded herself, as she looked up at the display again. The roof was coming up soon...

* * *

"Why did Eggman have to choose a ridiculously tall building to cause havoc on? Who makes banks this tall anyway?" Knuckles thought out loud as he continued to rapidly scale the wall that would lead to the access point to the roof. Knuckles could see the ceiling above him, meaning that it would not be long before he reached it. 

'Curse that girl, I bet she's just doing this to impress Sonic!' Knuckles thought to himself. 'What that girl sees in that blasted hedgehog I'll never know... Must be that stupid 'Fan-Girl' syndrome, I thought that only existed on the Internet. It's strange though; I'd have thought that a girl as mature as Amy should be able to control her emotions better. Then again, she's no guardian. She does not have the mental training and focus that I possess... Why am I even thinking about her, I'm only looking after her until she's safe with the others aren't I? Why am I even questioning myself? I am Knuckles! My priority now is returning home and guarding the Master Emerald, not the Pink One! URGH! Why did I have to meet up with these people and their stupid emotions?' Knuckles mentally cursed himself, as he finally reached the top floor level.

Knuckles pushed the access door wide open, leaping out onto the roof's surface and instantly taking up a fighting stance. It wasn't needed. The robot had its back turned to Knuckles and was concentrating on shooting down the airplane, which Knuckles recognised as the Tornado, but it was now in it's 'speed mode'. Knuckles looked at the 'plane, and noticed the passenger in the back seat. It was a human, the same species as Eggman, but not as fat or as bald. In fact, this one was a stark contrast to Eggman in probably every way apart from gender. The human seemed dressed for battle, as his face sported what looked like red war paint. Knuckles smiled at this, he seemed to be a mentally prepared fighter, although not very useful in this situation. Knuckles looked again to the robot, to the powerful missiles being fired from its arms and the large domed head. Its armour looked very tough, but perhaps not tough enough to withstand his namesakes.

"This is what has been causing all this damage? I'll teach it a lesson never to distract a Guardian from his mission!" Knuckles vowed to himself, brushing the dust off his gloves and preparing to battle.

Knuckles turned around sharply when he heard the sound of a bell ringing behind him. He saw that the light above the elevator door was on, signifying that the lift had arrived on this floor. He smirked; he had beaten Amy by a long shot. The door opened, and Knuckles looked at the pink hedgehog, who was seemingly taken aback by the appearance of the Echidna.

"You need to be quicker than that next time Amy!" Knuckles said, still smirking, but his expression changed when Amy pulled out her Piko-Piko Hammer from out of no-where after seeing Eggman's robot still firing at Tails.  
"You..." Amy said, in her most angry sounding voice, although it was about as fear provoking as a death threat from TY the Tasmanian Tiger.  
"STOP BULLYING TAILS!" Amy screamed out, as she began charging towards the robot, with her hammer raised high above, poised to strike at the right moment.  
"AMY! NO!" Knuckles called out, but it was far too late. With the adrenalin pumping through her, Amy was sure to teach this robot a lesson it would never forget.

Amy approached the robot at speed, and when she was right by the robot's right leg, she swung her hammer around, firmly smashing into the robot's leg with force, causing a loud 'clanging' noise of metal upon metal to ring out. The blow didn't even cause a scratch on the machine. But it did alert the robot's attention. E-23 revolved its domed head around, so that its eye sensor could identify the attacker.

_'Interference identified. Assailant is a female organic hedgehog of pink colouring in a red dress. Weapon of Choice: A large hammer. Records show that the attacker is: Amy Rose. Threat level: -2. Options available: Terminate, Ignore Solidify, Capture. Capture rate of previous creation of Eggman indicate a 110 success rate in capturing. Threat unlikely to be encountered during capture, organic has hurt her own hand from the force of attempting to cause damage to structure.'_

"Oww!" Amy winced in pain, shaking her hand after the failed attempt to teach the robot a lesson. Amy eyes suddenly went wide in fear when she felt four cold, metallic arms clamp around her. Amy screamed out in fear as the arms took a tight grip of her and she was easily lifted off the ground. Amy was still screaming as E-23 lifted her up to the height of its eye sensor, as it continued to scan the life form it had captured. Amy was now trembling and whimpering at the intimidating sight of the robot holding her.

Knuckles could stand the cries no more, and without thinking of the consequences leapt forward with his fists poised for action. "LET HER GO!" Knuckles roared out as he approached the robot, but his attack was brought to a halt by the sudden appearance of Eggman lowering himself between his creation and the Guardian.

"Stop right their Knuckles!" Eggman called out, extending an arm with an open palm at the end, indicating a stopping gesture. Knuckles stopped out of reflex, as he looked directly into the evil eyes of the doctor, as he continued to speak.  
"Any more heroics like that, and your pink friend here might find herself a little... CONSTRICTED!" Eggman sneered, as he snapped his fingers again. True to the doctor's threat, Amy squealed out in pain as the arms that held her in place squeezed even tighter than before.

"AIIIEEEEEE! KNUCKLES! HELP MEEEEEE!" Knuckles stared in disbelief at the doctor's despicable actions, it was just like Eggman to hold a woman hostage, especially in the weaken state Amy was in. But Knuckles didn't move another step. Usually he'd have leapt forward and smashed everything in his path, but for some reason he didn't want to see Amy hurt anymore, even though it was sickening to see Amy in such pain right now. There was seemingly nothing he could do right now to help her...

"You... Coward..." Knuckles spat out at Eggman, sick to his stomach at the dishonourable tactics being used. "You have no shame! NONE AT ALL!"  
Eggman gave an evil smile in reply."Coward? ME? I'm only protecting my robot! It was the girl who started it all, is it my fault that she couldn't finish it? Besides Knuckles, what do you care about the girl anyway? She's not your responsibility! It's the hedgehog's job to..." Eggman stopped short of finishing his sentence, as a thought suddenly struck him. The hedgehog!

Eggman began looking around about him, as if frantically searching for something or someone. It took Eggman's mind completely off Knuckles and Amy, who was still being held by Missile-Wrist. Amy looked over at Knuckles, wondering herself why he was putting himself on the line right now, especially after what she'd said to him earlier. Knuckles saw Amy staring straight at him, and suddenly felt a light red flush come over his cheeks, thankfully disguised by his natural fur colour, which made him turn his head away from her. Knuckles was therefore unable to see that the same thing had happened to Amy...

"The hedgehog! How could I forget! If you two and the fox are here, then that infernal spiked creature must be around somewhere as well! What if this has just been a whole set up?" the Doctor questioned himself out loud, loud enough to be heard by Tails and 4GOT10 in the Tornado.

"Sonic still hasn't arrived yet..." Tails said sadly, now very concerned about the situation below, since it looked like Knuckles had turned his head away from the problem before him.  
"I guess this the one time Sonic's been late for somethin' huh?" 4GOT10 questioned, looking around him to see if there was any sign of the Calvary in sight. It was then that he noticed a blue streak make its way through the streets, dodging out of the way of moving traffic. It could only be one person.  
"There's the son-bitch now!" 4GOT10 shouted out, as he pointed down at the moving blur, which caused Tails to smile broadly, even though he didn't know what a son-bitch was. What he knew was that the hero had arrived.  
"What?" Eggman questioned, looking down at the direction the human in the Tornado was pointing at. His eyes widened. It was Sonic!  
"Doug... I mean, four-got-ten! There's a Power Ring in the seat pocket in front of you, I need to toss one down to Sonic when I go in low, okay?"  
"No problem" he replied, pulling out a shining golden ring from the pocket in front of him, as the Tornado dived downward to the street level.

Sonic was running up the street, when he clocked eyes with the familiar looking face of Miles Prower flying the Tornado, and the paint-covered face of Douglas, who was holding a Power Ring.

"About time ya showed up!" Sonic heard Douglas call as he and the Tornado headed towards each other. "Grab this!" Sonic jumped up slightly as he came level with the Tornado, as reached out with his hand. At the same time, Douglas released the ring from his hand, and the ring fell lightly into Sonic's.  
"Thanks!" Sonic said as he grabbed a tight hold of the ring, before racing off towards the building where he could see Eggman's robot standing on. Sonic smiled his trademark smile broadly, as his fist began to glow as bright streams of glowing light seeped out between the tiny gaps in Sonic's gloved hand, signifying that the energy was taking affect.

"IT'S HIM!" Eggman screamed out in disgust and shock. "New mission E- 23! Annihilate that hedgehog AT ALL COSTS! Don't hold back!"  
_"Roger"_ was the robot's reply, as is tossed Amy over its metallic 'shoulder' without a second thought as it prepared to take aim at the incoming threat.  
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Amy screamed out at suddenly realising the falling situation she was in. But her screams didn't last for long though, as Knuckles leapt up and caught her in his powerful arms, before safely gliding to the ground. "Knuc... Knuckles? But I though..."  
"...Maybe I was wrong for once Amy..."

The energy from the Power Ring continued to flow out of Sonic's hand and through the rest of his body, as he picked up speed along the road. Soon, his whole body was covered in the glowing energy shield of the Ring's power. Sonic knew this meant only one thing: The Spin Dash Attack. Sonic instinctively curled himself up into the deadly ball-like shape, as he began spinning down the street, and up the side of the heavily damaged bank building.

"ATTACK!" Eggman roared, pointing down at the blue ball heading upwards as he and Missile-Wrist looked over the edge of the building.

Without saying a word, the holes in E-23's chest area flamed up, as it fired out five missiles towards its target. The missiles whaled as they travelled downwards on an intended collision course with the blue hedgehog. The first missile overshot its mark, and impacted behind Sonic, while the second hit to the left. The remaining three swung around, waiting to get together, and slammed into the building hard towards the hedgehog. The resulting blast caused a ball of thick black smoke and flames to burst out of the area hit, followed by a mass of smoke that bellowed from the impact zone.

"YES!" Eggman called out in victory, he'd struck a direct hit! A direct hit which did little damage to his opponent. Without warning, Sonic burst out of the thick smoke, and shot right up the side of the building, travelling high into the air above. Both the Doctor and his creation looked up in amazement at the now high-flying hedgehog, although it was more obvious on the creator's face, since he had one.  
"Don't just look at him! SHOOT HIM DOWN!"

E-23 went back to what it knew best: It's namesake missile-wrists. It fired them up high, targeting the hedgehog. The energies now pulsing through the hedgehog's veins was strong enough to not only give Sonic a full advantage in the power department, but a huge confidence boost. Not that Sonic even doubted for a second that Eggman was going to win. Sonic bounced of an incoming missile, before bouncing off it and coming out it his ball stance on the other missile, and performing a ballerina like spin on one leg. Sonic followed this with a somersault-like flip onto the returning right missile, before repeating the move easily onto the left when it returned. Sonic quickly got bored of this, and began taunting Eggman and his robot, by sticking his tongue out and pulling down the lower eyelid of his left eye while standing on the right missile when it tried to hit Sonic again.

"How dare you hedgehog! You dare make fun of the great Doctor Eggman?" Eggman called out, obviously disgusted by the lack of respect he was being shown.  
"And he's not even putting effort into it!" 4GOT10 called back down as the Tornado circled around the battle scene.  
"What do you mean?" Tails asked  
"I've seen better insults in a McDonalds' Kids Meal Drawing Contest!"

Sonic was making it all look so easy, as he began to imitate Russian dancing on the missiles, leaping from missile to missile with ease while kicking his legs in the air while his arms were folded over his chest.

"Sonic!" Sonic heard a familiar sounding voice. Looking down, while still dancing, he saw whom the voice belonged to: Knuckles. And by his side, strangely hugging on tightly to his arm was Amy.  
"It's about time you ended this joke of a battle!"  
"No problem!" Sonic said as he smiled, it was actually nice to see more familiar faces in this world, even if it was Knuckles (a guy he often didn't see eye-to-eye with) and Amy (Sonic Public Enemy Number 1, although Eggman had to try really hard to get that spot sometimes.).

Sonic stopped on the right missile, allowing himself to travel on it as it quickly took him down to rest in position in E-23's arm. The robot noticed that his target was no longer in the air, and turned its domed head to its right arm. Looking back at it was the blue hedgehog known as Sonic. Sonic gave an encore performance of the taunt he used earlier, by sticking his tongue out and pulling down his lower eyelid.

_'Enemy hedgehog confirmed in close proximity. Missiles not advised to be use din this situation, hand-to-hand combat must therefore be utilised. Warning, no hands available to use, as indicated my name assigned by Doctor Eggman.'_

Sonic watched as E-23 roughly brought up it's left arm, and jumped high out of the way as it brought the arm crashing down where Sonic was kneeling, completely ripping the right missile in half, rendering the right arm useless. Sonic smirked broadly; this was an overly miss-matched confrontation.

"FIRE!" Eggman roared again, pointing upwards

E-23 obeyed, releasing another five missiles from its chest area, and watching as they travelled upwards. This time all five missiles homed in on their target, preparing to strike at once. Sonic smiled, as he curled himself again up into a ball, bracing himself. Eggman gazed upwards, as he saw all the missiles come together and produce a huge ball of flames that quickly turned into a larger ball of black smoke. Eggman knew there was no way Sonic could have avoided that blast.

"I'VE DONE IT!" the self-proclaimed genius scientist cheered to himself, proudly looking up at the smoke above. He had finally won after all these years!

... Yeah right!

The familiar spinning blue ball came hurtling suddenly out of the smoke, heading straight downward. No one could see it, but Sonic was grinning broadly. He loved fooling Eggman into thinking that he'd won; Sonic often saw the Doctor's attempts to take over the world as little games.

"I guess that play-time's officially over... FOR YOU!" Sonic shouted out, as he focused all his power into one final push, launching straight down onto the head area of Missile-Wrist with the Spin-Dash Attack. The speed and the force of the blow, combined with the height Sonic attacked from, caused the dome shaped 'skull' of the robot to cave into the robot's body, sending out sparks of electricity as the internal components of the machine began reacting violently with each other and short circuited.

"Not... Good..." Was all the doctor could say as he watched in horror as his face was lit up by the electrical bursts coming from the large hole where E- 23's head used to reside. Within a short moment of that, the robot exploded in a large ball of electricity, combined with similar black smoke that the missiles had produced. The blast sent cogs and other machine parts flying across and off the roof, which caused Amy to hold on tighter to Knuckles' arm. Amy eyes were closed tight shut while the blast was happening, so she didn't know that Knuckles was instinctively shielding her anyway, and that he was also smiling to see that Eggman had gotten what he deserved.

"THAT'S HOW TO KICK SOME ASS!" 4GOT10 shouted out loud, raising his arm high in the air as his hand held onto the bat he'd used to hit Eggman with, in a sign of victory. "That showed that fat bozo who owns this town!"

The thick black smoke cleared away slowly, revealing the now defeated and now very dirty Doctor Eggman. The smoke had discoloured his flying craft, as well as his entire body. The pod hovered above the ground of the roof, as broken parts of the E-23 robot lay strewn across the floor. Sonic stood in front of Eggman, completely unharmed, and unfazed, by all the events that had happened.

"Had enough of a beating for today, Eggman?" Sonic mockingly asked, knowing the threat was well and truly over.  
"This... Was... A Minor... Setback..." Eggman spluttered out, before taking off high into the sky.  
"This war is far from over Sonic! I will become the master of this new world, and you will all bow down to the might of the Eggman Empire!" Eggman called out as his flying machine attempted to make a smooth exit away into the distance, but it was darting uneasily across the sky, felling the effects of the previous blast. The exit was about as smooth as a drunk man's hangover.

Sonic smiled as he watched Eggman disappear. He was gone... for now...

"SONIKKU!" Sonic eyes widened as he heard quite possible the only voice that struck fear into his heart – Amy. Before Sonic could react, Amy had flung her arms tightly around Sonic's neck and chest area, hugging him tightly. "I'm unbelievably happy to see you again!" Amy said, with tears forming at the bottom of her eyes.  
'And my day was going so well...' Sonic thought, as he struggled to try and release the tight grip he felt on him.  
"I actually thought for a moment that I'd never see you again!"  
"Oww! Get off me, that hurts!" Sonic barely managed to get out.

Knuckles looked at the scene and shook his head. Amy was still, and was probably going to always be, the annoying fan-girl of Sonic the Hedgehog.  
'So much for maturity.' Knuckles thought. 'Not that it's my problem anymore...' Knuckles' ears pricked up. Footsteps. Marching footsteps. A small troop of soldiers. Sure enough Knuckles turned around and saw five men, all dressed in protective body armour and hard-hats, pointing machine guns at himself, Amy and Sonic.

"FREEZE! Nobody move! Just raise your arms in the air, we don't want any more trouble!" The leading man said. Knuckles stood unfazed by the weapons pointed at him and the threats, as did Sonic behind him, but unlike the concerned look on Amy's face.  
"What business do you want with us?" Knuckles asked.  
"Just do as we say, we are here to keep the peace!" The man replied.

Knuckles' eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists tightly, anger boiling up inside him. The emotion running through his body seemed to make his body glow, as he felt bitterness and frustration accumulate in his heart.  
"You... You people have no respect for those who risked their lives for you!"  
"What... What is it doing?" The leader of the men asked in a worried tone, as he watched the red creature's hands and eyes twitch.  
"We end the violence against your city, AND THIS IS HOW WE ARE THANKED?"  
"SONIC!" Sonic and Amy followed the sound of Tails' voice, and looked up to see the Tornado heading towards them, dangling a rope-ladder out. "Grab a hold of it!" Without another word needing to be said, Amy took a firm hold around Sonic's waist, as Sonic reached up a took a hold of the ladder, pulling himself up on it, high above the rooftop.

Amy looked back over to where she and Sonic had been, Knuckles had not moved. Sonic saw this as well, and called out to him.  
"Knuckles! Hurry up!" Knuckles was not listening to his words, as he remained growling angrily at the men opposite him, ready to strike at any moment.  
"KNUCKLES!" A soft sounding voice, filled with panic and worry broke Knuckles out of his state of mind. Amy. Knuckles then lowered his fists, and smiled arrogantly at the men.  
"You're not worth it!" He mocked, before quickly turning and chasing after the ladder.  
"FIRE!" The leader of the armed men shouted out, which was followed by the sound of heavy machine gun fire.

Knuckles ran athletically, seeming not bothered by the bullets flying past him or hitting the ground by his feet. He was just gaining slowly on the ladder dangling from the Tornado, but the roof was rapidly running out, Knuckles needed to act fast, looking up at the concerned expressions of the two hedgehogs. Knuckles' smile never faltered, as he stepped up onto the ledge of the bank's roof, and leapt off, his arms and gloves outstretched. Knuckles slid forward through the air, allowing his natural gliding ability to take over, and allowing him to grab a firm hold of the very bottom rung of the rope ladder.

Seeing that everyone was relatively safe and secure, Tails pulled the Tornado away from the congested streets and skyscrapers, and high into the sky above, leaving the large crowds of people below looking amazed at the sight they had just seen. 4GOT10 looked down and smiled. They'd picked up a few extra passengers on the way, but now everyone that could've come into this world that Sonic and Tails knew of was here. He looked down at the pink hedgehog in the red dress known as Amy, but more closely at the red Echidna called Knuckles. Knuckles too looked up at him, and nodded towards him in a sign of respect. 4GOT10 returned the gesture, a sign of mutual admiration between warriors of different styles.

"Okay people, let's get outta here! You're all damn sure welcome back at the house!" 4GOT10 called down.  
"Cream and Cheese are there waiting for us, they both been worried about you Amy" Tails added, looking down.  
"Wow, really? That means we'll all be together again!" Amy called back up  
"Sorry, but as much as I'd like to stay for a reunion, I have my own mission to complete!" Knuckles said, before he let go off the ladder, allowing the air to glide him safely downwards.  
"Knuckles! Don't go!" Amy called out to the Echidna, although it was already too late.

"Take care Rose, we will meet again! Farewell!" Knuckles shouted back, before turning away from the Tornado's flight path and downwards into what looked to be a large park-like area with a lake in the middle.

Amy sighed. "...Knuckles..."  
"Don't worry Amy, he'll be fine on his own. He always had been." Sonic reassured her.

'I know...' Amy thought to herself, '...But I was just starting to get to know him... And I hadn't thanked him properly either... I could do with a friend like him...'

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview – Voiceover by Douglas

"Eggman's back in Station Square again with another robot! This time the race is on to get the Chaos Emerald first at the building site! But I can't worry about that, I've just gotten a contract with the Station Squared Circle wrestling company, it's my biggest break ever! Besides, Sonic acts like he doesn't need my help, so he can go with out it!

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: '**Contract Chaos!**' Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author Notes: Episode 3 is done! Lovely! This episode had a bit more of Douglas' thoughts, as well as the feelings of other characters (except Chuck really, but he'll have a bit to say in ep 4). In case people were wondering what was going on during the Knuckles/Amy bits and is confused: Good. It's an idea I've toyed with that will play out in the future... (Hah! Evil author!). This episode also had a lot of strange humour and 'hidden' references to other computer games and song and such like things. See if you can spot them yourself and make sense of them, of course you might not. If you want to know what they are, then perhaps you will know when this adaptation is done... 

Speaking of which, some people may question the whole 'adaptation' part of this stroy, since I'm following the storyline of Sonic X closely right now. Episode 4 is going to be quite different (no school!) and episode 6is certainly not like the 'original'.It will all make sense when you read it, or if not, then I liked it anyway... Plus, some storylines are completely changed (I won't spoil it just yet, but old school sonic fans may enjoy it...) Time for reviewer bit, short section this time, only two people reviewed... sob...

_Sonic/Anime_ - Yeah, I've been watching the Jap episodes (thank goodness for s0nicfreak and Broadband connection speed). I'm glad to hear you like my descriptions, and I hope you like Knuckles' appearence here!  
_Shady Fetish_ - Yeah, Douglas is much better than Chris, he gets more interesting in Ep4 as I've said before. Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy this!

What else can I say except please R&R, and I'll hopefully get the next Ep up soon since I've gone on about it so much, so stay tuned for the next segment of Sonic eXcluded, I'm off to work on the episode guide so I know what to work on... This has been Airo Smicktor!

_N.B. Edited on 20-11-04 for paragraphing and minor editing  
Edited 01/05/05 - All Song lyrics have been removed as par the rules of FanFiction-dot-net._


	4. Contract Chaos

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

I (Airo Smicktor) don't own Sonic, Sonic X or any other associated characters. I only own Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke.

* * *

Episode Prelude:

**Click.**

**Click.**

**Click.**

The short sharp sound of heels coming down on a cold concrete floor. The boots had been slowly pacing back and forth for the last half hour in the cold and dimly lit room, as their user had been analysing the information being relayed.

"...Are you telling me Commander, that you and your fully armed men failed to carry out your mission?"

Across the room, five men stood dressed in fully protective body-armour and helmets, with their heads bowed forward. They looked down at their feet, refusing to look up. Partially due to the disappointment they were feeling, but mainly due to the fear of facing the wrath of their superior. The men were lucky that the lighting in the room was deliberately bad, otherwise the beads of sweat running down their faces.

"...With all due respect Sir..." the Commander of the men half-mumbled, still looking down.  
"Save your excuses!" Their superior called out, sharply stamping her foot on the floor. The combination of her voice and the sudden connection of the hard heel to the concrete caused all the men to look up in surprise.

Topaz shook her head. "You call yourselves an elite unit? I should have you all sent back to the training fields!" She stated, disgusted at the sight before her.  
"You are very lucky that I am one of the few people that understand what we are dealing with here, but I swear: If I EVER hear about any more incompetence from this squad, then I will not hesitate to have your positions put into great review. Now get out of my sight... NOW!"

That was more than enough warning for the men, as they quickly stumbled out of the room to the safety of the corridor outside.

"I guess you should never send in boys to do a women's job..." Topaz said thoughtfully as she shook her head again. The stupidity of the people around her always seemed to surprise her. Add to the fact that the fear was all too easy to spot in the men; she could see it in a boy's eyes. She turned away from the doorway, and walked slowly over to the table and chair on the other side of the room. Topaz turned on the little desk lamp and sat down to examine the compiled intelligence.

Piled on the table were folders, documents, photographs and newspaper cuttings. They were related in one-way or another to the mystery that had already grown into a nationwide crisis: 'Dr. Eggman and the talking animals. Everyone in the country wanted to know where 'Sonic the Hedgehog' and his furry friends came from, and how this 'Doctor Eggman' could have such destructive and power technology at his disposal. The problem was that it didn't matter how many questions were asked, there just wasn't any real answers. No one knows who, or what these animals really are.

Currently, six animals had been confirmed and identified, with about 2 or 3 others rumoured to have been seen. Sonic – A blue hedgehog, the first to appear, appeared out of nowhere and outran the best of the S-Team. Amy – A pink hedgehog, carries a large hammer that seems to appear out of nowhere. 'Tails' – A mutated fox with two tails, pilots his own aircraft known as the 'Tornado'. Cream – A cream coloured rabbit, which had been captured and analysed at Area 99 before being rescued. 'Knuckles' – A red dread locked hybrid of a hedgehog known as an echidna, broke away from the main group of furries and hasn't been seen since Eggman's first attack on Station Square. 'Cheese' – A Chao, a breed of animal thought to be long extinct. There have also been sighting of some other larger-than-usual animals – A purplish cat, who had a green frog on his shoulder, was seen fishing by a lakeside a few days ago; while athere have been quite a fewreports of jewellery shops beingbroken into by a 'person disguised as a weasel, who was wearing a brown cowboy hat', and a 'female disguised as a white-coloured bat wearing pink-heart shaped clothing'. Either someone was having a laugh, or there were more creatures running around.

All this data had been pieced together by various reports and sources, including tapping into radio signals and phone calls. The location of the main group of creatures had been easily traceable (following a shape-changing aircraft isn't the hardest thing to do), likewise with Eggman. For Topaz, all this info was fine, but useless to her. She, or to be more precise, her superiors in the government, wanted to know the what's and whys about these creatures; that was something that could only be obtained through one person right now. The man known as 4GOT10.

He'd been spotted in the 'plane the fox was flying when they took on Eggman, crushing any doubt that he was not only hiding the animals in his home, but was actively helping them in other ways. In simple terms: He's a friend with Sonic, and therefore the best lead to find out what the deal is with the hedgehog and company.

Topaz opened up the folder on Douglas Thorndyke- Smicktor, the wrestler known as '4GOT10', and scanned over the notes about him. A bad-guy wrestler (known in the industry as a heel) holds an impressive win/loss record along with some respectable title reigns under his belt, a well-known character in the independent wrestling scene...

'That might be a problem.' Topaz thought to herself. Thorndyke had wrestled with independent wrestling companies for his entire active career, which means that he worked for whichever company offered him a spot on the show's programme. A risky move, since it could be months before the next match and payoff, but it also demanded a lot of regular travelling around the country to wherever the company's next show was being held. He'd rarely stay in the same city for a long time. It would be far easier, and would reduce the risk of Thorndyke distancing himself from the animals, if he was signed to a company that was stationary, even if it was just in the general area around Station Square. The only companies like that were the 'prime-time Monday night' companies.

Topaz looked again at the worrying picture of 4GOT10 with his face covered in a 'crimson mask' of blood. It was obvious to her that the next few months were going to be very interesting, especially with such an extremely interesting character...

* * *

"...So let me get this straight..." Douglas said, as he looked over at Tails, Cream, Cheese and Amy, who were sitting on bean-bags, while he leaned his back against a wooden support post that went up all the way from the floor to the roof.  
"...This Chaos Control sent all you guys over from your world to here... That I can handle..."

Chuck's lab in the attic of his workshop/garage had become the new home for Sonic and his friends ever since Sonic had smashed Eggman's Missile-Wrist only yesterday. It was a good idea in theory, since it was very rare for anyone to ever come up here, except for cleaning. Since every idea works in theory, and there wasn't any other practical solution without telling anyone else about the situation, it was a solid plan of action. With a bit more work, and a few extra beds and sheets, it could be a cosy place. As long as Chuck's experiments weren't touched...

"...But what exactly are these Chaos Emerald things that you keep talkin' about?"  
"You've never heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails replied back, sounding generally surprised. "You're gonna have a lot of catching up to do!"  
"...Firstly, I don't know anything about your messed up teleporting world, so don't be getting all high about knowing this stuff. And second, you didn't answer..."  
"The Chaos Emeralds..." Amy butted in, "...Are the seven legendary coloured gems, and each one's filled with a powerful magical energy! You can imagine the power that you'd have if you collected all of them!"  
"Hmm..." Chuck said, as he turned his swivel chair around to face the people in the room. "That's all very well, but I wouldn't build your hopes up just yet."  
"Why not Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked.  
"You see Cream... It's highly improbable that any gemstone can contain actual harvestable energy, and there is no such thing as real magic... Besides, every one of these 'precious' emeralds has disappeared..."  
"That doesn't mean they're gone for good!"

Everyone in the room looked over to the interrupting voice that came from the window. In the small alcove of the window was the relaxing blue form of the speedy hedgehog.  
"It's the same thing: every time you gather all the Chaos Emeralds together, they scatter and disappear again!"  
"What, you mean like some kind of safety mechanism so the emeralds' powers can't be used for evil?" Douglas inquired.  
"Hey, you're catching on quick Doug!" Sonic replied, hiding the fact that he'd never thought of it like that before, he'd always seen it as just a game to keep him interested in finding the emerald before Eggman.  
"So, technically, the emeralds will still be out there, right?"  
"You got it!" Sonic said, giving the thumbs up gesture with his left hand.  
"But we don't have anyway of knowing where the emeralds are!" Tails piped in. "If they're all here in your world Douglas, then it's OK; but if even one of them is still back in our world then we might never be able to get back home!"  
"Oh, so you're saying that I'm a terrible host, am I?" Douglas stated, putting his hands on his hips and an annoyed expression on his face.  
"Wha?" Tails stuttered out, "NO! I didn't mean it like..."

"Ha-ha!" Douglas smiled, before patting Tails on the head. "Relax! I was just messin' with your mind! Besides, we don't know for sure that the emeralds aren't here on Earth, so until we find that out, we have to think positively." Douglas turned to the other seated furries. "Now, I'm no genius, too many chair-shots to the head removes a lot of brain-cells, but from what you guys have told me, there's a good chance that if we collect all these emeralds, then maybe we can create another of those Chaos Control things, and you guys can all get back to your own world! How does that sound for an idea guys?"  
"Yeah, no worries!" Sonic said in reply, as the other furries nodded their approval.  
"And how exactly do you plan to go about carrying this plan of yours out?" Chuck said sceptically, arching an eyebrow towards his step-grandson.  
"...Um, I don't really..." Douglas said in reply, shrugging his shoulders. As soon as he'd said that, everyone in the room suddenly gained a strange sweat drop-like shape on their heads.  
"Hey, HEY! It's a great plan! Okay, look. The best way for us is too keep our eyes open and your ears to the ground; if these emeralds live up to the hype you've given them, then it's not gonna be long before one of them is found and it makes big news."  
"What are you saying Doug?" Sonic asked, interested in where Douglas was going with this.  
"Unfortunately for you Sonic, it's a case of waiting around for something to happen..."  
"Ah man! That's way too slow for me!"  
"Chill out blue-hog! I'm sure something will happen soon enough, it always seems to around you guys..."

* * *

**Episode 4 – Contract Chaos**

**

* * *

**

Part 1:

2pm. Or 1400 hours, whichever is the longer by time. In the industrial heart of Station Square, work had already begun to repair the damage caused to buildings and other structures by Doctor Eggman ever since the all clear was given. The attack on the city had only happened a week ago, but the memories of it still appeared heavily in the newspapers and in public conversation. Who were these talking animals, and why did they help the city against Eggman?

Although, not everyone was spending their time thinking about the fast blue hedgehog, everyday lives had to carry on as par normal. There was a great amount of reconstruction work that had to be done, and no more so than in the city's central bank. The damaged caused to it by Eggman's robot had been so much that the decision had been taken to completely re-build it from the ground up.

The site of the old bank was now a construction site, complete with high rising scaffolding as the early structure for the new bank was being put up. Work was being carried out at a steady yet quick pace, for while the old bank was not the only one in the city, it was more convenient for the customers, so having it completed As Soon As Possible was a priority. Even now, work was being carried out to secure the ground around the site of the new bank, with a pay-loader being used to scoop up the excess earth and dirt and place into a large truck for transportation.

The heavy scoop of the 'loader moved downwards as it collected another load of dirt inside it, before rising upwards. The top part of the 'loader revolved around as the scoop's cargo moved over to the awaiting truck. The scoop, now positioned over the truck, released its dusty load into the truck, sending a torrent of dry mud crashing into the previously collected earth already in the truck.

The driver of the pay-loader looked on, hoping that he wouldn't be stuck doing this for a long time, since moving soil around wasn't very interesting. But there's an old saying: 'Be careful what you wish for...' For just underneath the latest top of the ground left by the scoop, was an awaiting power, silently urging to be awakened. A glistening green Chaos Emerald.

* * *

"Well?" A large, grey-haired man half-asked, half-demanded as he sat in a grand-looking brown leather chair. The desk in front of him was clear of items, except for two telephones (one a regular dialling 'phone, which also doubled as an intercom, the other a bright red telephone that seemed only to be used in very serious situations) and a gold-plated reading lamp. In front of the desk, two men and a woman stood. One man wore stylish glasses and a navy-blue suit with a lilac tie and white shirt; the other man – a grey suit with a navy-blue tie and no glasses, but was more tanned than the other people in the room. The woman was clad in a full army combat uniform, complete with flak jacket and hardwearing boots. The seated man was a sort of contrast to the others, as he wore a navy-blue suit that was of a paler shade to the other blues in the room, and a green tie. His face bore the signs of a very stressed lifestyle, since he had many lines and wrinkles on his face that were uncommon for a man even of his age, but not of his position.

"Have you found them?" the seated man asked again.  
"We have confirmation that the hedgehog and its companions, bar one, are located within Station Square in the residence of a famous family." The man in glasses answered. "Eggman's base has been traced to a small unpopulated island in the southern sea off the Coast of Station Square. The exact location of the red 'Echidna' is unknown, but it is also somewhere in Station Square, and we have so far been unable to trace down the cat and weasel."  
"Never mind about the animals!" the seated man replied back, slamming his fist onto the desk. "I want that Doctor Eggman arrested and locked up, since we know where he is!"  
"With all due respect Mr. President, it would be a better plan of action to keep them under surveillance until we can better understand their behaviour and abilities. We are still unaware of what they are capable of doing."  
"Besides, the animals did destroy the 'E-23' robot of Eggman's. If it weren't for them, Station Square would most likely be a pile of rubble by now." The woman added.

"Humph!" The President replied in frustration. "That's all very well Topaz, but you'd all better pay close attention to this Dr. Eggman. We've already seen what damage can be done by one robot of his!"  
"That's already taken care of Mr. President, Sir." The other man said, taking a proud step forward. "The Secret Service has already dispatched a team to infiltrate the 'Eggman Island' and to monitor any activity. As soon as the Doctor makes a move, we'll be sure to let you know."  
The President smiled a little at this news. "Well, I knew I could always count on the Secret Service to work on that matter. Now, is there anymore news about the animals and that famous family?"

"Allow me Sir..." Topaz said, moving forward as the two standing men stepped quickly aside to let her past. Topaz placed a photograph on the desk and pushed it forward towards the President so he could see the picture. It was a photo of a family picture comprised of seven people, who were all standing in front of an impressive looking mansion and smiling.  
"The animals are in the residence of the Thorndyke family. The parents, Nelson Thorndyke and Lindsay Fair, are often away on business due to their success in their industries, so are rarely at home. We believe that they are unaware of the animal's presence. The butler, Mr. Tanaka, and the maid, Ella, may or may not be in on it, but most likely the former. The old man is Chuck Thorndyke, the famous inventor, now retired. He is very much in the know about the animals due to his involvement in the incident at Area 99."  
"This is all very interesting Topaz, but what about..."  
"Please allow me to finish Sir, I know that what we really need is someone connected to the animals to tell us more about them, right?"  
"I'm listening Topaz, carry on..." the President replied, now very interested in where this was going.

"This man here is the key to finding out more." Topaz stated, leaning over the desk to point to the purple-haired man who was standing with a child with brown spiky hair hugging him. "This man is Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke. The Thorndyke family adopted him when he was 12 years old, who had avoided social services for years ever since his natural parents had abandoned him when he was just a baby. Various gangs around the country had raised him on the streets as he moved from city to city. He was nicknamed as 'Forgotten' since he'd been 'forgotten' by his parents and the people in the last city that he'd left behind. Not exactly an ideal childhood, but it made him tough and focused, which led to him having a career as a wrestler, adapting his own nickname to '4-GOT-10' as a gimmick. That I believe is how we can use him to tell us everything we need to know without even realising it."

"What do you mean?" the President asked, amazed by the short life-story/survival of this man.  
"Well Mr. President..." the man in glasses said, smiling a knowing smirk. "We've come up with a plan..."

* * *

Douglas yawned. After the excitement of the past seven days, this week had turned out to be devoid of interest. Everything he used to do now just seemed far too ordinary. Although his days used to be comprised of eating, training, watching TV, listening to music and occasionally 'running the streets'. After you've teamed up with a group of talking animals and battled an over 20 foot tall robot, it's very hard to find to find a likewise thrill.

Not that watching the news channel for over an hour was even a good attempt at it. The mind-numbing combination of political scandal, weather reports, and the odd repeated reply of Missile-Wrist blowing stuff up and being blown up was enough to certainly cause someone to question their own actions. And ideas.

"Great work Douglas... You've got access to over a thousand channels are your stuck watching the news thanks to your own master plan!" Douglas muttered to himself as he switched the television off. He unthoughtfully tossed the remote aside and looked at his watch. 14:00 – the time seemed to be going on for too long. Douglas signed, standing up and walking out of the door and heading down the garden path towards Chuck's lab.  
'I wonder if the time would pass quicker if it was just 2pm...' Douglas thought to himself, smirking at his own weird sense of humour.

Douglas was just a couple of steps away from the garage door when he heard a bleeping sound, accompanied by a vibrating sensation in his jacket pocket. He reached into the pocket and pulled out the cause of the sound and movement – his mobile 'phone. Flipping open the 'phone, Douglas looked at the display.  
_Unknown number_ it stated.  
'Probably a wrong number...' Douglas thought, as he considered not answering the 'phone at all, in case a past girlfriend had tracked him down. 'Heh, what's the worse that could happen?' He thought again, pressing a button to accept the call.

"Hello?" Douglas said, speaking into the 'phone.  
"Hello, is this Douglas Smicktor, also known as the wrestler 4GOT10?" a cool and confident male voice replied.  
"Yeah... That's me. You've done your homework, but whose..."  
"I work for the Station Squared Circle wrestling company, perhaps you've heard of us?" The voice on the other end cut Douglas off quickly.  
"What? Yeah, of course I've heard of the SSC! It's like, only the biggest wrestling companies on the planet!"  
"Excellent, then you'll be pleased to hear to hear that we in the SSC are aware of your fine wrestling ability, and firmly believe that you have what it takes to become a big star."  
Douglas was speechless, was his ears playing tricks on him? "This... This isn't a joke, is it?"  
"Of course not Mr. Smicktor, in fact, we'd like to have you signed up ASAP; when are you next available so we can arrange a meeting?" The voice asked, although the owner of the voice already knew that Douglas had no booking to go to.  
"Well... I... I'm not doing anything today, if that..."  
"That's great!" The voice quickly reassured Douglas, "Please head over to the SSC arena and tell them that I sent for you."  
"Okay, no prob... Wait, I still don't know who..."  
"Of course, how rude of me! I'm Mr. Stuart, and I'll be very pleased to meet you in person when you arrive here at the arena."  
"Okay, I'll see you there then Mr. Stuart."

"See you soon Douglas." The voice replied. Although Douglas obviously couldn't see it, Mr. Stuart was smiling, with a glint of anticipation in his eyes as his tinted glasses shined of the sunlight as he stood next to Topaz outside the as their plan was coming together. Soon, he'd tell them all...

Douglas quickly hung up the 'phone and put it back in his jacket pocket hurriedly, before turning around and running back towards the house, not even noticing that Amy was watching him leave from her seated position in a high up window, and had heard all that he had said.

* * *

"What was Mr. Douglas doing Ms. Amy?"  
"I'm not too sure Cream, he seemed to be talking to a little box thing that he had in his hand..."  
"That's called a mobile telephone Amy." Chuck said, looking over his shoulder from his computer screen. "It works the same as a normal telephone, but you carry it around."  
"Wow, you guys still use those here?" Tails asked, "We haven't used those for a long time back in our world!"  
"Did you hear what Douglas was talking about Amy?" Chuck said, deliberately ignoring the kitsune's comment.  
"He said something about 'wrestling' and seeing someone..."  
"Ah that explains it then. Douglas must have got a booking."  
"What do you mean Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked, looking very confused, as did the other furries in the room.

"Okay, I guess I'd better tell you a bit about what Douglas does..." Chuck attracting the attention of the furries, including a half-slumbering Sonic who was trying to take an afternoon nap on the roof of Chuck's lab. "Douglas' job isn't a normal one, like a policeman or a teacher or anything like that. Douglas is a wrestler for a living, which I guess if you put it in simple terms means that he's an entertainer."  
"I thought wrestlers were people who hurt each other a lot..." Cream said.  
"That's part of it, but it's in a controlled way, not like fights that break out in streets and things like that. Wrestling is more like a glorified fight with fancy moves and unnecessary insults."  
"So why does Douglas wrestle then?" Amy asked, still not really understanding.

"Technically, it isn't Douglas who wrestles. I mean, Douglas doesn't grapple as Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke." Chuck only received even more confused looked from his animal friends. He signed, this was going to be harder than he expected. "When Douglas wrestles, he plays a different character, just like what actors do in a TV show. That's known as a wrestling 'gimmick', which all good wrestlers have. Douglas' wrestling gimmick is a character called '4GOT10'.  
"That was the name Douglas was calling himself when we were fighting E-23!" Tails butted in. "That was the writing on his pants as well wasn't it?"  
"That's right Tails, that was Douglas being 4GOT10. Douglas was dressed up in his full wrestling mindset and attire, gloves and all. But back to your question Amy: Douglas happens to be very good at wrestling for a start. When you want to do well in life, and make a lot of money, you should do a job that you're very good at. Douglas is very focused at wrestling and has been doing it for years; therefore that's what he does. It's not really that hard to understand really."

Chuck saw the understanding looks on the furries' faces, and gave a sigh of relief. He'd managed to explain 4GOT10 without having to explain the 'extreme' companies that Douglas had often worked for, or having to tell them about the Chris armband he wore. But on the roof, Sonic was thinking to himself about Douglas. Sonic was sure that was something else to this '4GOT10' that he wasn't being to told about, but he wasn't sure what. Yet he was sure that he'd find out somehow, and hopefully not before he found out by a hard way...

* * *

'Wow... This is amazing! I'd never thought that I'd be actually standing in this place...' Douglas thought to himself, as he walked along the white brick corridor in the S.C.C. Arena, heading towards a brown door at the end. He had only just signed a full one-year S.S.C. contract, as was common for all new wrestlers to have, and the smile on his face hadn't faltered on bit. As he approached it, Douglas could make out a sign on the door. It read: 'Mr. Stuart'.  
'I guess I'd better meet my 'biggest fan' then!' Douglas thought to himself, knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" A male voice replied, the same voice Douglas recognised from the 'phone.  
"It's Douglas Thorndyke, Mr. Stuart. You called me earlier to..."  
"Ah! Come right in!" The voice interrupted, much like it had done during the 'phone conversation.  
'I hope that's not a habit of his...' Douglas thought to himself, as he turned the door handle open and stepped into the room.

A tall, blonde haired man wearing rose-tinted glasses greeted Douglas. He wore a dark greenish-blue open suit, with a light green closed waistcoat underneath, and a pale-yellow polo neck shirt underneath that. A strangely thin man, whose upper body was only marginally bigger than the rest of him due to the layers of clothes he had on. Perhaps a new style from wherever he was from, as he didn't seem to be from around the Station Square area. The room he was in consisted of a desk with chairs and folders, some lamps and plants in the corners, some Japanese looking paper screens, and a couple of paintings on the walls.

"Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke..." The man began, offering his hand in a handshake, which Douglas accepted with a friendly smile, matching that to the smile on the man's face. "...Your Step-father owns around 70-per-cent of the world's entire computer shares and is the C.E.O. of the Starship Soft computer company, Nelson Thorndyke..." Douglas was taken aback by the background info Mr. Stuart knew, as indicated by the sudden release of the handshake he was doing. "...And your Step-mother is the world renowned film actress Lindsay Fair, am I correct?"

"...Shit man, what are you? My stalker?" Douglas said, smiling uneasily now.  
"Oh no! The truth is..." Mr. Stuart began again, sensing the unease of the fellow person in the room. "...That I'm truly honoured to meet you, since I'm a great fan of your mother's work!"  
"...Okay..." Douglas replied, arching an eyebrow. "...I haven't been signed just because of my name have I?"

Mr. Stuart laughed at this comment, although Douglas was a little unsure of the sincerity of the laugh. Truthfully, he was now a little unsure of Mr. Stuart as a whole. Douglas felt an uneasy atmosphere building in the room now, along with a strange perfume smell that he noticed coming from behind the screens in the room.  
"Of course not Douglas, we never use real names in the S.S.C. anyway. As I said to you earlier, I'm a fan of your own wrestling work. I've seen some tapes of your matches, and as the Chief of Staff, I feel that your style could be just the thing to grab people's attentions."  
"And make them buy tickets?" Douglas added, smirking.  
"Well, there is that side to it... But currently, it's been the same guys at the top, and it's time for the 'new blood' as they say to step up and shine. I assume that you're ready for that?"  
"Hey, I was practically born ready!"  
"Just as I expected. Well, feel free to look around and talk to the other talent, I've got your first match-up booked in a few days, just a Dark Match so we can show off your skills and so on, you know how it goes right?"  
"Yeah I knows it, I ain't no jobber."  
"Well, I guess I'll see you around then Douglas."  
"I guess so. Thanks again Mr. Stuart, I'll make sure not to disappoint you!" Douglas said, turning around and heading out the door.  
"Oh, by the way, I know this might sound like a strange question but, do you happen to have a favourite animal?"

Douglas looked at Mr. Stuart as if he'd just grown another head that was green of colour and had strange arms coming out of it. "...Shit, that's one hell of a weird question..."  
"It's just that my... Son is doing a school project you see..."  
"Oh right! I've got no problems helping out the younger generations. Well then, my favourite animal would be... A hedgehog I guess..."  
"Oh?" Mr. Stuart replied, his eyes seemingly lighting up with Douglas' answer, as if to say that he'd been expecting this answer from the purple-haired wrestler.  
"Yeah, I guess it's different from a cat or something like..."  
"Oh no, not at all! In fact, I'm glad to hear such an interesting answer."  
"A lot of people have told me that I'm an 'interesting' person... Well, I hope that helps with your kid's homework, I better head off now, I wanna test out the ring a little."

"Of course, it's been nice meeting you! Oh, and don't forget your backstage pass..." Mr. Stuart said, pulling a drawer open in his desk and taking out a laminated card on a thin chain before throwing it towards Douglas, who caught it. Looking at the card, it read: 'SSC Talent: Wrestler. Admit to all areas of SSC Arena. Douglas smiled as he put it around his neck, not even noticing that Mr. Stuart was watching Douglas' every move as, he opened the door and left the room.  
"... I'll be watching you in more ways than you'll ever know..." He added, as the door to the room closed.

* * *

"So what exactly are we reporting here?" The red-haired women in an orange suit and skirt asked as she sat in the front passenger seat of the van she was travelling in at the other side of town. This was not a regular van, as it has many television and satellite aerials on its roof, as well as an array of sound, recording, editing and transmitting equipment in the back of it. This was a hi-tech news van, reserved only for the finest reporter in the whole of the Station Square and SSTV News.  
"I'm not quite sure Scarlet..." Her cameraman, who was wearing a red baseball cap and a blue shirt underneath a fisherman's jacket, replied while still driving. "...We got something about a malfunction at the construction site for the new bank..."  
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at this. "...Seriously?"  
"Not just any malfunction, a whole damn pay-loader!" Her sound-engineer (also known as the guy with the stick with the furry thing on the end), who wore large glasses and a purple shirt replied. "Plus, something in the area is messing around with other tools! They've had to shut down all the electrical equipment on site in case it happens again due to some 'electro-magnetic waves' or something..."  
"That sounds more like a news story!" Scarlet replied, now more pleased with what she was about to report on. "Any witnesses?"  
"Yeah, almost everyone on site saw it." The cameraman answered again. "But we're gonna talk to the guy who was operating the machinery affected, he was freaked out by the whole thing, so it'll look good on camera if he'd not already in a white jacket with locks attached..."  
"How long until we're there?"  
"Just a couple more minutes, then we can break out the film..."

* * *

"Your son's school project?" Topaz said, stepping out from behind the screen she'd used as cover to listen in on the previous conversations.  
"It proves that Douglas is connected to the hedgehog, doesn't it?" Mr. Stuart replied, folding his arms across his chest with a smug grin on his face.  
"It proves that you're a weirdo stalker! Douglas is probably wanting to avoid you the best he can after all you've said, and from what I've gathered on him, he's very good at that! We've learned nothing about him or the animals from that talk!"  
"He mentioned something about helping younger generations didn't he?"  
"Ah, that. We know about that already from his connection to Chris Thorndyke."  
"Who?"  
"The young boy in the photograph, with the spiky brown hair."

Mr. Stuart pulled out the picture from a pocket inside his suit. Looking at the picture, he saw the boy in question, who was tightly hugging onto Douglas, who was hugging back the best he could, despite the difference in height between them.

"After Douglas was adopted..." Topaz continued, "...He avoid his parents almost completely, which wasn't hard, considering they weren't at home very often. Douglas was forced to stay at home until he could leave the education system. The only people he connected with where Chuck Thorndyke and Chris, but with Chuck it was more a matter of respect for what the other had done. With Chris, we believe it was emotional. Perhaps Douglas acted like a real bigger brother figure for Chris."  
"You're not sure then?"  
"The Thorndykes don't want to talk about Chris since his death, so we only know a few details."  
"Like what?" Mr. Stuart asked, with concern in his voice.  
"That Chris died of a rare cancer that affected the heart, the symptoms of which are very hard to detect. The poor kid didn't have a chance really, and it was a miracle that he lived to the age he did. We also know that when the police and medics arrived after the butler had called for help, they found a crying Douglas cradling Chris in his arms. He was dead before they arrived."  
"...Poor guy..."  
"That's not the worst of it, after that happened, Douglas blamed his step-parents for the death, and moved out. He's spent a while before Chris' death building some kind of den in Station Square, but after the incident, he left the Throndyke residence and finished it. No one knows where it is, or how he exactly built it all, but some have suggested that Chuck helped out a lot."

"Interesting... Maybe that's why he wrestled in all these 'extreme' promotions then..."  
"What makes you say that?" Topaz asked, now it was her turn to be concerned.  
"Since it's a way to cause great harm and violence to others legally..."  
"You mean, like a release of anger?"  
"Exactly."  
"Then why need all the barbed wire, the thumb tacks, and all those other stuff they use?"  
"It's all part of the appeal of wrestling as a whole. Some fans want to see a great technical wrestling match; others want to see women in skimpy clothes pulling each other's hair out. Others prefer to see people getting the shit beat out of them with folding chairs until blood is splattered all over the canvas."

Topaz pulled out a copy she had of Douglas' face covered in blood, the same image that had intrigued, disgusted, and had plagued her dreams for the past few days.

"...But that's not to say that the wrestlers themselves don't fall into those categories..."  
"...So you're saying that Douglas enjoys hurting people?"  
"Could be, but perhaps he enjoys being hurt, or he could have a disreguard for his own body and health... If that's the case, then the animals may not be the problem we should be dealing with..."

* * *

The SSTV News van pulled up at the construction site. Stepping out of the van, Scarlet Garcia used her reporter's intuition to identify the situation. The police were already here and had cornered off the area with police tape, keeping the general public at bay; meaning this is a serious incident, which is good for the ratings. As if mysterious energy isn't, but it also meant the news crew wouldn't be allowed on site. She noticed a large blue sheet covering a large area of the ground on the site - there had to be something of importance underneath, but as it's behind the police line, it would not be possible to reach or see. This might not be a good a report as she hoped...

But then Scarlet noticed a young man, with short tan-coloured hair who was wearing pale yellow overalls with a white T-shirt underneath. He was sitting on a crate outside the police line, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, freshly made as indicated by the steam rising from the cup, and a bright yellow hard-hat. The man did not seem very well, as he's face was very pale compared to his hands. He looked as if he'd just experienced a terrible shock or been in a car wreck. Unless he was actually ill, he was the perfect candidate to be an eyewitness. Scarlet looked over to her two-man camera and sound crew, who nodded back to her in understanding and agreement. It was time to press record.

"Hello, I'm Scarlet Garcia from SSTV News." The worker heard from beside him. He turned his head up from his coffee and saw the speaker, who was holding a microphone to her mouth and had a camera looking over her shoulder towards him, with a red light on. "Can you tell us what happened here please?"  
"Yeah, yeah, sure..." The man said, although his voice stated otherwise, he sounded tired and a little confused. "Well... I was just sittin' in my pay-loader, movin' the dirt around to get the foundations ready for the floorin' of the ground surface..."  
"Can you show us the 'loader in question?"  
"Huh? Oh, yeah." He replied, putting his coffee down on the ground. "It's that one, the one with the cops and my foreman around it..." He said, pointing over to what looked to be a normal-looking piece of heavy machinery.  
"The thing's useless now, shame really. It were brand new only a couple of months ago, check out was only last week an' all..."  
"So you were saying about what happened?" Scarlet asked again, after the camera had got a good shot of the 'loader.  
"Yeah, well, I was just scooping up the earth an' movin' it, when all of a sudden, I hit something real hard in the ground. And I'm talking real hard, 'cause you can imagine how strong these machines are!"  
"Go on..."  
"Well, the scoop on the front is stuck in the ground, and I move the controls to make the thing start up again. Then the circuits start playing up! All the panels and lights start flashing, the thing starts rumbling, so naturally I pulls the key out the ignition to switch it off."  
"...And?"  
"It keeps going! It's running by itself, like it got its own energy supply or something! The thing goes out of control and starts running around, knocking stuff over and causin' a right darn mess! It tipped over that truck over there..." He stated, pointing to an overturned truck that was lying on its side with a large gash in the top of it where the scoop of the pay-loader had connected with it.  
"...And that pile of logs over there!" He now pointed to a mess of crushed timber and wood, with some partially solid logs sticking out as workmen sweep up the mess.  
"I had to leap out of it before it did anymore damage, it was lucky that it stopped when it did!"  
"How do you mean?"  
"It's odd, but the thing just seemed to run out of power after the scoop got caught in the ground. It must've tired itself out I guess..."  
"Do you know why this happened? You mentioned hitting something hard it the ground..."  
"Oh yeah! After the thing stopped, I walks over to where I'd been digging before, and in amongst the dirt, there's the big green jewel..."  
"A jewel?"  
"Yeah! And I mean, real big! About the size of my hand, and bright green! The weird thing is, when I leaned over to touch it, it seemed to shine by itself, without the need of sunlight or anything, like electricity or something..."  
"So you're saying that this gemstone is giving out electromagnetic energy?"  
"Huh? Oh yeah, electro-whatever the cops were talkin' about. Yeah, that's the stuff. Made the radio's play up as well."  
"Can you explain that for us?"  
"Sure, when I took out my walkie-talkie to tell the foreman about the gem, all I heard was this roaring static. I started walking around to get a better signal, and the further I went from this gem, the less static I heard. So, naturally, I goes closer to the gem with the radio, and sure enough, I get lots of static! To the point where I held it right next to the gem and the thing short-circuited!"  
"...That's something else..."  
"Isn't it just? That's why they covered it up with that big old sheet over there..." He said, pointing over at the blue sheet that Scarlet had noticed before. "The police got one of their sketch artist to draw a picture of it, so you could ask them for a copy maybe if you want to see it for yourself."  
"Right, well thank you very much for your time, Mister?"  
"Oh, my name's Bob"  
"And your profession?"  
"Well, I guess you could say I'm a builder."  
"Thank you. Okay boys" She said, turning away from the man. "We've got a story to report."

* * *

Back at the S.S.C. Arena, Douglas was again walking through the corridors, getting familiar with the surroundings that he'd be spending a lot of his time in from now on. He walked through a set of double doors and found himself in a large area canteen area full of seats and tables. There was also a large television screen on the wall, which seemed to be showing a news programme. As Douglas looked around, he noticed that there weren't many people around, except for a few backstage technicians and the odd wrestler.

"Hey, you the new guy?" A man called out, who had long black hair that was died blue on the end, who was sitting on a folding chair, watching the programme. The man also had a large championship belt on his shoulder.  
"Yeah, aren't you TMG?" Douglas called back, heading over to the seated man.  
"The one and only current Heavyweight Champion of the SCC! You'll be the 4GOT10 guy Stuart keeps harping on about then?"  
"That's me, although I'm not too keen to have that guy as a fan..."  
"Hah! Then you're already makin' the right moves around here then!  
"Huh? What do you mean?"  
"No-body likes the guy ever since the boss just announced that he was the Chief of Staff, he just seems stuck up. But it's good, since he doesn't seem to be around much. He just stays in his office, if he's here at all."  
"...Really..." Douglas said, taking a seat next to the champ while thinking over Mr. Stuart again.  
"Yeah, but there was a big meeting a couple of days ago, and your character was brought up. The boss and Mr. Stuart both agreed to sign you up really quickly, and when that amount of power decided, the whole company decides!"  
"...Heh, I'll make sure that I live up to the hype then..."  
"Now's that's the right attitude to have here! I've had to earn every shot and opportunity that I've got here, I've been cheered and booed, but it's been worth every minute of time that I get out there! But enough about the history of The Murder Game, I've heard you've had your fair share of scratches along the way."  
"Yeah, just the odd bump and chair shot."  
"I meant all the barbed wire and stuff like that, Stuart showed us all one of your matches from a couple of months ago. You take some sick bumps man! How long have you been doing that for?"  
"Ah, well... Those kind of matches only started I guess... Maybe a year ago..."  
"Shit! Just as well you got signed up then before you broke something badly!"  
"I'm sure I'd have gotten through it alright..."

"And now we got live to Station Square with a Special News Report on a breaking story with our top reporter, Scarlet Garcia..." The voice of a newscaster reported onscreen.  
"Hold that thought man, Garcia's coming on!" TMG said turning his full attention to the screen.  
"No problems man, she's one sexy reporter!" Douglas replied, as the live news report kicked in.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today I am standing in front of the construction site for the new central bank in Station Square. Those viewers who will remember..." The image of Scarlet said, before being cut off slightly by a moment of interference. "... The horrific attack on the old bank just around a week ago by the dangerous 'Doctor Eggman' will know this area. As if the trauma of that day was not bad enough for this area, another just as dangerous mystery is unfolding here..."

At the Throndyke mansion, the same report was being transmitted to the living room, and was being watched by none other than Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao. Although, the word 'watched' is being used very loosely here, as Cream was actually reading a children's book that Douglas had managed to find for her, and Cheese was just staring blankly at the screen, not understanding the long words and phrases being used.

"...Police have confirmed that strong energy waves have been demagnetising the machinery and equipment in the surrounding area, causing malfunctions and communications..." Another burst of static interrupted, "...difficulties in the area. Some of you may be experiencing some interference in your transmission. Please do not adjust your sets, as this is a direct cause of the gem's magnetic powers..."

Cream's eyelids began lowering, leaving only the lower halves of her eyes open to read her book, as she struggled against her own boredom to stay awake. It was not an easy task, as without something fun to do, she couldn't stay focused on what she was supposed to be doing i.e. watching for news of Eggman or the Chaos Emeralds as Douglas had suggested.

"...Which seem to be affecting all electronics in the area as we were told by our eye-witness just a few moments ago..." Scarlet said again, before the screen changed to an image of a man in overalls being interviewed about the incident. Not that this mattered to Cream or Cheese. They had just fallen asleep and were silently slumbering away, unaware of the clues staring them in the face.

Luckily for them, the book Cream was holding onto was slowly slipping out of her hands, due to a lack of grip in them. The book edged slowly, bit by bit, out of her hands until the book fell down to the carpet floor below in a resounding thump. Although not very loud, it was loud enough to awaken the young minds of the two creatures. Both Cream and Cheese's eyes opened up in a dazed surprise as they remembered where they were, and looked ahead to the image of the screen of the red-haired women, who was now holding up a piece of paper with a greenish image on it, but it was partially obscured by the interference. Had they tried to identify the source of the noise, they might have looked down to see the inside of the back cover of the book, which had, scrawled in childish writing in crayon, the words: 'This book belongs to Chris.'

"We unfortunately can not show you the gem itself due to the risk of further electrical damage, we can show you this artists rendition of the gem..."  
The picture, almost by fate more than timing, became clear, showing the drawn picture. A drawing of the green Chaos Emerald. Cream and Cheese both gasped in surprise.

"That's... That's!" Cream stuttered out, as Cheese called out just as shocked and confused. "We have to let Mr. Sonic know right away Cheese!"  
"Chao!" Cheese agreed, as Cream ran as fast as her little rabbit shoes could take her, with Cheese flapping its Chao wings behind.

Sonic, meanwhile, was taking a nice relaxing nap on a high branch of a tree. Shaded by the leaves above and around him, it was a fine place to chill out as he rested the back of his head in his hands, taking care to avoid the sharp quills, as he relaxed. A satisfied yawn escaped the blue hedgehog's mouth as he stretched his arms and legs out, having spent enough time asleep for one hour. Sonic was ready to go on the move.  
"Nothing like a good pre-afternoon snooze before my afternoon nap!" Sonic said to himself, regaining feeling in his limbs. "I wonder what I'll do until..."  
"Mr. Sonic! Mr. Sonic!" Came a young voice from below. Mr. Sonic looked over his left shoulder, and then right, having found the source of the call did not come from that direction. He saw Cream and Cheese running towards his position, with worried looks on their faces.  
"What's wrong guys?" Sonic asked, as he effortlessly slid down the tree as if it were a fireman's pole, reaching the grass below as his friends arrived by the trunk.  
"Big problems Mr. Sonic!"  
"Chao! Ch-ao!" Cheese agreed  
"Calm down Cream! Just tell me what's happening..."

* * *

"To add even more mystery to this already perplexing situation, no radiation or energy has been detected in surrounding area around the construction site..." The image of Scarlet continued, again being interrupted by static. "...So it is now assumed that this 'gemstone' is nothing more than an elaborate prank and it some kind of technical machine designed to distort electrical items. Although this cannot yet be confirmed or denied until scientists arrive on the scene, which this reporter has been told will happen in the next hour or so as Area 99 deploys some of it's finest minds, no doubt ready after the 'terrorist attack' by the blue hedgehog known..."

From his command chair, Doctor Eggman laughed heartily at his adversary known as Sonic being called a terrorist, and the fact that he knew full well what was causing the problems at the site well before the reporter had shown the picture of the emerald. Eggman pushed a button on his chair and the TV report was switched off.  
"Well well, if it isn't a Chaos Emerald..." The Doctor said, smiling. "They have come to this world, just as I suspected. And right underneath my nose the whole time! Who'd have thought that destroying the old bank would prove so useful after all! No matter, Decob!"  
"_Here are your cards Lord Eggman."_ The golden robot replied, walking over towards the seated robotic genius with a stack of cards on a round metal plate.  
_"Which will you choose today?"_

"Hmm... That is a good question..." The Doctor replied, taking the stack of E-Robot cards and fanning them out, looking at the many pictures of robots that he had created.  
"Which shall I use today... To recover the emerald I'll need a machine that's fast enough to get in and out without much hassle, but I also need back up in case something unexpected happens like last time..." He mused to himself, remembering what happened to Missile-Wrist.  
"Hmm... I can't decide again! This always happens when I create too many robots! Wait... Why should I decide?"

Eggman shuffled the cards back into a deck, pressed down hard on a red button, and slotted the cards into the slot that was produced.  
"This should do it!" Eggman almost shouted out in a self-glorifying way, as he grabbed a hold of the large lever on the side of his main control panel, and pulled it back. Much lie it had done the day he decided to attack Station Square, three slot-machine like reels began spinning rapidly on the electronic display. Eggman watched intensely as the machine selected the ideal robotic aid for Eggman. The Doctor smiled as one by one, the three reels stopped and showed the same image. A bird shaped robot with yellow claws and crown-like guard on its head, in complete contrast to the sickly purple/pink hybrid colour of the rest of its body, and the large dark green eyes/sensors on its front head. While the machine's colour scheme could be questioned, its abilities could not.

"BINGO!" Eggman shouted, turning his chair around and giving the thumbs up to the gold and silver robots he now faced. "Prepare for launch, Beakon is going into action!"  
"_Right away Lord Eggman!"_ the robots replied, before hurrying off out of the command room.  
'Once E-11 has obtained the Chaos Emerald for me, I'll be able to construct and power an even more powerful mecha to the ones I already have... And with a more powerful mecha, Sonic won't be a problem to me anymore!' Eggman let out a thunderous laugh after his last thought, as he walked over to his Egg-Pod in preparation of capturing a Chaos Emerald.

* * *

"What do you make of that then?" TMG asked looking over to Douglas who was stroking his chin with his hand as the news report finally. A gemstone of mysterious energy... Could that be a Chaos Emerald that Tails and Amy were talking about?  
"...A lot!" Was Douglas' reply as he quickly got up and headed out of the canteen.  
"Whoa! Where's the fire? I meant Scarlet!" TMG said as he watched Douglas move out of the room.  
"If anyone wants me, tell them I've gone out on family business!" Douglas called back, already through the double doors.  
'Shit, that guy is one strange character...' TMG thought to himself, as he flicked a speck of dust of the shining centre plate of his championship belt.  
Outside the canteen, Douglas was running down the corridor, heading for the exit while calling up a number on his mobile 'phone.  
"Hello? Yes, this is 4GOT10! ...Yeah I want Kaufman, send him down to the SSC Arena pronto, and tell him to get ready to head to the Construction Site in Station Square..."

* * *

Flip Card 1 – Dr. Eggman

Full Real Name: Doctor Ivo Robotnik  
Nickname(s): Dr. Eggman, Eggman, anything Egg related  
Age: Unknown in Mobian years  
Gender: Male  
Likes: Building powerful mechas, collecting Chaos Emeralds, taking over the world  
Dislikes: Losing, Sonic, any friends of Sonic  
Identifying features: A large bald man, with a long orange moustache, known for being 'egg-shaped', has an abominable 'evil' laugh, is often seen in his flying 'Egg-Pod' or with robots he's created

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Mr. Stuart

Full Real Name: Unknown, goes by the alias 'Mr. Stuart'  
Nickname(s): Stuart  
Age: Unknown  
Gender: Male  
Likes: Completing missions, gathering information, pleasing his superiors  
Dislikes: Complications, being tricked, being misunderstood  
Identifying features: Blonde hair, rose-tinted glasses, his wristwatch contains a hidden radio transmitter/receiver, is actually a secret government agent.

* * *

Part 2

The engine of the Tornado roared into life as Tails finished running through the per-flight checks as Amy secured herself into the back seat of the 'plane. Sonic had already headed out on his own to track down the Chaos Emerald, leaving Cream and Cheese behind to tell the others of the news. Needless to say it put Chuck's theory down instantly about the emeralds, they are here, and one of them is very close by.

"Please be careful Mr. Tails!" Cream said, looking up at the focused fox as he pushed a button that caused the rotors on the front of the 'plane to spin even faster.  
"Don't worry Cream, I'll be fine!" Tails said, turning his head around to look at the rabbit. The innocent warmth of his smile seemed to put Cream's mind at ease as she smiled back with another look of innocence.  
"But Sonic's already out there looking for the emerald, and I'm sure he doesn't know where it is he's supposed to be going!" Amy said, looking and sounding concerned for her blue hero.  
'It looks like Douglas was right about Sonic being too overconfident...' Chuck thought to himself as he heard Amy's words. 'He's always had a second nature of judging people's characters...'  
"Don't worry about it Amy!" Chuck said, in contrast to his actual thoughts. "The construction site is in the heart of the city, just head out to where you battled E-23!"  
"Okay, here goes!" Tails said, as the Tornado began moving forward.  
"Oh Chuck, what have you gotten into this time..." Chuck said under his breath as he watched the Tornado take off into the skies once more.  
"...It just keeps getting bigger and bigger..."

* * *

The telephone rang in Mr. Stuart's office. Stuart picked it up and answered it.

"Mr. Stuart, Chief of Staff here."  
"Sir, you said to let you know where Mr. Smicktor- Thorndyke left the building?" the voice on the other end of the line asked.  
"He's left already?" Stuart replied, actually surprised.  
"Yes Sir, he said it was family business. He's waiting for a taxi outside the arena now Sir, he left by the back exit."  
"...Thank you. I'll be out of the arena for the next hour or so, make sure that people are aware of that."  
"Oh, okay Sir..." The voice replied, taken aback by the unexpected announcement of departure.

With that, Stuart hung up the 'phone. He looked over to the door to see that Topaz had already left through it, so he had to quickly run after her. "Topaz! Wait up!" He called, realising she too was running down the corridor.  
"Why?" Topaz said, without looking back.  
"Because you'll stand out like a sore thumb if Douglas sees you!  
Topaz slowed herself down as Stuart caught up. "...Good point."  
"If we're going to tail Douglas, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."  
"You mean wait for him to move first then follow?"  
"Precisely. We can use my car when he starts moving."  
Topaz smiled knowingly. "As long as he has his 'Special Pass' with him."

* * *

"Come on... Come on! Where the hell is Kaufman?" Douglas said, pacing around outside the arena. Suddenly, a yellow taxicab pulled sharply around the corner and into the parking lot where Douglas was. The car stopped as Douglas ran over to it and got in the front passenger seat. As soon as Douglas had closed the door, the car was up and moving again, as par Douglas' instructions on the 'phone.

"Must be some serious stuff Doug! You piss off the SSC or something?" Kaufman asked, eyes fixed on the road as his passenger clicked his seat belt in position.  
"Nothing like that man, but it's got to do with some friends I know..."  
"You mean those talking animals and the blue hedgehog?"  
"Huh? How'd you..."  
"There's been pictures in the papers from that robot attack, they've got the picture of you, or should I say 4GOT10, in that 'plane with the fox! Take a look!"

Douglas opened up the glove compartment, and pulled out the day's newspaper. On the front cover was the picture in question, of a wide shot of the Tornado leaving the battle scene with Sonic, Amy and Knuckles hanging on to the rope ladder, with Tails flying the 'plane and 4GOT10 in the passenger seat. The headline read: 'IS THIS THE MASTER OF THE SUPER ANIMALS?" By 'SUPER' Douglas assumed they meant 'talking and oversized'.

"...Huh. Master is far from the truth..."  
"Just as well the press don't know who you are then, 'cause it's only gonna be a few days before they find some stuff about you... Do you know anything about exactly what's happening at the site?"  
"It's only a hunch Kaufman, but it might be the ticket to sending these animals back to wherever they came from..."  
"Hah, shortcut time coming up!"  
"Huh?"  
"We're being tailed, that green car's been following us from the arena."  
"Shit!" Douglas said, looking in the side-view mirror at the green car in question, which was at a distance behind him so he couldn't see the driver or know that there was a female passenger in the front.  
"That'll be the bleedin' paparazzi after me now!"  
"No worries! I'll just use this Taxis Only road here and we'll be on out way!" Kaufman grinned as he turned his car down the marked road. Still looking at the road behind, Douglas saw the green car stop parallel to the road's entrance, before driving off in the direction it had been heading in before. Douglas smiled.  
"Hah, that'll learn them, no one messes with the last of the Smicktor family!" Douglas said, as the taxi continued to head off towards the construction site.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, Sonic was having problems of his own. Not with traffic, but with his sense of direction. The problem? He didn't know where to go. Sonic had assumed (as he regularly did) that finding a Chaos Emerald would be no problem. Sonic had again forgotten that he was in a strange city, and therefore had no idea where places were. Add to this the fact that he'd run off before Cream had told him where the emerald was. Not that Sonic would ever admit that he was clueless at this moment, since it wouldn't look good for his 'rep'.

'It's gotta be around here somewhere...' Sonic thought as he raced down the many roads and streets of Station Square. 'It should be no problem for someone as good as me, so why haven't I found it yet? Maybe I should wait around for Tails to show up... He'll know where the emerald is!'

Instinctively, Sonic changed course and used his built-up speed from racing around the streets to head up the side of a building. As Sonic ran up the side, he noticed a large red aerial-like structure sticking out of the roof of the building. Reaching out with a hand, Sonic grabbed onto one of the lower horizontal poles of the antenna, before jumping up from pole to pole until he was perched on the very top of the main vertical pole. The whole movement was completed in about 6 seconds. Sonic was getting a tad slower in this still unfamiliar city.

Sonic stood, looking out at the afternoon skyline of the city's rooftops to the sounds of bleeping horns and moving traffic below. Quite a nice view, if Sonic was in a position to enjoy it. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked out for the Tornado.  
"It'll be no problem to see Tails from up here..."

* * *

"Where is he now?" Stuart asked as he manoeuvred his car through the streets.  
"He's only about five minutes away right now..." Topaz replied, looking at the reading on the electronic display on the centre of the dashboard, which was tracking Douglas' movements thanks to a special chip secretly placed in his backstage pass to the arena.  
"He must be in a hurry to wherever he's..."  
"Topaz, come in Topaz, this is central command, tell me your position, over." Topaz's radio crackled into life as she answered it.  
"Topaz here, I am with agent 'Stuart' and are in pursuit of target 4GOT10 in Station Square."  
"Roger that, Dr. Eggman has mobilised and is headed towards Station Square with a flying robot. The flying robot is extremely aerodynamic and outran a barrage of ground-to-air missiles from one of our gunships monitoring Eggman Island, over."  
"...Um... Okay, what do you want us to do, over?"  
"Head toward the construction site of the new bank in Station Square. Local TV reports state a strange gemstone creating energy at the site, and we've had reports that Sonic, and the Tornado aircraft have moved out of the Thorndyke residence into the city. This is too much of a coincidence. You are to move to the site, recover the gem, and bring it to Area 99 for examination, over."  
"Roger that, we are on our way, over and out." Topaz replied, putting her radio back in its position on her body armour.  
"...I guess that's what Douglas' 'family business is then?" Stuart replied, moving his car up a gear.  
"Yep, we've gotta try and get to it before anyone else does, especially Eggman."  
"...Why not before Sonic or Douglas?"  
"...I'm not sure why, but something tells me it would be in better hands with them..."  
"Wait... Look! Up there!"

Topaz looked up through the windshield of the car, and noticed a small blue and yellow bi-plane flying up ahead. The Tornado.

* * *

"Hey Doug, you see that 'plane up there?"

Douglas winded down the window on his side of the car and looked out at the 'plane Kaufman was referring to. Douglas smiled as he pulled himself back in.  
"It's one of ours Kaufman! That's the Tornado!"  
"The Tornado? You mean that's the transforming 'plane?"  
"The very same my friend, and it also means that we're heading out for a Chaos Emerald!"  
"Whatever you say Doug, I'm just the driver right now..."

* * *

Sonic, now sitting on the top of the pole, heard the sound of a light aircraft engine in his sensitive ears above the traffic noise below.  
'It's about time Tails got here!' Sonic thought, frowning at the lateness of his friend's arrival. 'Did he take a scenic route?'

As the Tornado approached, Sonic noticed that Tails was not alone in the 'plane, a painfully familiar pink hedgehog was in the passenger's seat.

'Oh no Tails, why did you let HER come along?' Sonic mentally groaned.  
"SONIKKU!" Amy's voice called out to Sonic. "Over there!" Amy pointed at the direction, "At the construction site!"  
Sonic smiled. "Okay, and next time, don't talk to me as if I don't know what I'm doing, otherwise I won't wait around for you!" Sonic then effortlessly jumped down from his high position onto the roof and began took off over the rooftops with leaps as he surged towards the emerald's location, leaving behind a confused Amy and Tails.

"What did he mean?" Amy asked, confused by what Sonic had said.  
"I don't know Amy..." Tails' mouth said, although his mind said: 'It means Sonic didn't have a clue where the emerald was.' But both his vocal and mental speech joined forces when Tails said, "Let's get going in case Sonic needs our help!"

* * *

At the goal of this secret race, a large crowd of people had gathered at the entrance to the construction site. They of course were unaware of the battle of speed happening above and them, but had seen and head the reports of the 'magnetic jewel' that was happening in the area. The police had to change the regular police tape to police barriers as more and more people gathered around the site. The crowd of people, young and old, all stared in wonder at the large blue sheet that covered the source of the confusion and power.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder..." The sound engineer reasoned, looking over at the crowd while he leaned against the rear of the news van as the cameraman changed the film in his camera, while Scarlet took a sip from a plastic cup full of coffee.  
"Yeah, I know what you mean." The cameraman replied as he closed the camera shut, the new film having been put firmly in place. "First the hedgehog, that Eggman guy, and now this."  
"Still... Who do you think will win the game on Saturday then?"  
"My money's on the Diamonds, they've never let me down on a bet be... Hey..." He trailed off, quickly putting his camera on his shoulder, ready for recording.  
"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked, taking another sip of coffee.  
"There's something up there in the sky..." He replied, looking into the camera's eyepiece.  
"What the heck is that?" The soundman asked, his words attracting the attention of some of the crowd members who also looked up at the sky. In the distance, two blobs could be seen, one larger than the other.  
"Let me see if I can..." The cameraman trailed off again, hitting the record button as he zoomed the camera in towards the approaching blobs. As he zoomed in, the blobs moved closer, until he could make out what they in fact were. The larger was some kind of bright purple robot-like bird, and the other was...

"AHH! IT'S EGGMAN!" He called out in alarm, which caused the whole of the crowd and the officers to look up at the sky. Many of the people in the crowd began to move uneasily, as one of the police officers moved quickly over to his police car and grabbed a hold of the radio.  
"Police car #5 to Base! Police car #5 to Base! We have a situation down at the Construction Site! Dr. Eggman has been sighted, and it looks like he's got another robot with him! Over!"  
"Base to Police car #5. Evacuate the area immediately! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to battle Eggman! Over!"  
"Roger that, over and out!" The officer said, quickly hanging up the radio. "EVERYBODY! MOVE AWAY FROM THE SITE NOW!"

* * *

Indeed, above the rooftops, approaching the construction site from the eastern side was the fearsome looking E-11 robot and its creator, the rapidly becoming infamous Dr. Eggman. Eggman looked down at the panel of his Egg-Pod, and smiled. It not only picked up Chaos Emerald energy, but a crowd of people who are running away from the site to the west.

"It looks like I'm getting the respect I deserve around here now!" He said smugly.

* * *

While west to the construction site, a certain blue hedgehog was looking down at the mass of moving people below.

"I didn't know it was marathon day..." Sonic said, before looking over at the construction site. Sonic then saw what was causing the people to run away: Eggman, and he's brought another one of his metal toys with him.  
"So Eggman's after the emerald as well huh? This should be a breeze!" Sonic said, before taking off over the rooftops again.

* * *

Back over on the eastern side, Eggman and Beakon were approaching the site at speed.

'An abandoned emerald will be easy pickings!' The Doctor thought to himself, pleased that his newfound status had cleared the area of almost everyone, apart from it seemed three people, but they would not put up any resistance, and a fast moving life form... Fast moving?  
'Hmm... That isn't any motorcar; it's moving across the roofs of the buildings... That could only mean... SONIC!'  
"That meddlesome hedgehog! A change of tactics is called for... Beakon! New priority number one objective: Neutralise the nuisance known as Sonic! Move 'collect Chaos Emerald' objective to priority number two until that hedgehog is out of the way!"

E-11 was one of Eggman's E-robots that did not have a voice-chip communication system, but it needed no words to acknowledge its master's request, as the rear engines roared louder as its programming changed from flying to attack mode. Beakon was designed for just flight purposes, so did not have any effective, or in fact non-effective, weaponry in a combat situation. That was precisely why it was building up speed, it was preparing to charge. The bright flames burning from the rear of the robot suddenly flared up brighter than before, and with more heat. Anyone watching the craft would have noticed small white streams of air begin to appear off the sides and wings of the robot. Clear signs of Beakon approaching, and reaching, G-Force levels of speed. Although E-11 could not reach Sonic's level of acceleration, the huge metallic weight would be more than enough to make sure that Eggman's plans went ahead without problem. The large, green eyes of Beakon seemed to light up and shine evilly with the reflected sunlight in both anticipation and eagerness. Beakon was about to please its creator.

* * *

Sonic looked in the distance and saw something bird-shaped heading towards him, although it was clear that this was no ordinary feathered creature.

'Heh, it's time to chalk up another Eggman robot!' Sonic almost arrogantly thought, as he pinpointed where he'd strike the incoming threat. Looking ahead, there was a flat rooftop with nothing but air in front of it. Sonic had planned to jump down from that building a race over to the building site, but now he had a better idea. The rooftop would make an excellent run-up to his jump towards the machine.

With the agility and style that Sonic naturally possessed, he jumped over the final small gap that separated the building he was on to the roof he'd use to leap from and landed on the opposite floor still running. With the velocity and adrenalin that Sonic had perfected throughout his life, his feet rapidly stepped on and off the roof's surface as Sonic increased his speed to the level he'd need to attack with. With the trademark smirk that had eased the minds of many friends and annoying his enemies, he leapt off the very edge of the roof, heading straight towards his robotic nemesis.

**WHACK!**

And with all the dignity of a wet sack of flour, Sonic was unceremoniously flung backwards as Beakon collided with the same force as a speeding freight train. Had Sonic underestimated the robot, or had he let his cockiness get the better of him? Sonic was in no position to have much rational thought, since the impact had pretty much knocked the wind right out of him. The one thing he did know was that he could clearly hear the all-too familiar manic laugh of the robot's master, and that laugh was mocking Sonic. Loudly.

Sonic was flying high, but in a very bad way. The blow with E-11 had not only knocked Sonic backwards, but high into the air as well thanks to the hard namesake beak of the machine. It also didn't help matters that Sonic had instinctively curled up into a protective ball, which had the effect of causing Sonic to spin around and around several times. By the time Sonic uncurled, he felt like he'd just been on a merry-go-round powered by an F1 Ferrari engine. Sonic eyes were wide as he blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of his surroundings and focusing his vision. Everything appeared to be strangely blue, with patches of white dotted around.

Beakon on the other hand was already preparing for another head-on crash with the airborne hedgehog. A wide rounding turn allowed Beakon to gain the velocity and direction it needed to smack Sonic into another time zone. Sonic's vision was still a little blurry, so he tried a little trick he learned from when he was very young and dizzy - looking down at the ground and counting to ten. Sonic looked down, but saw that the ground was seemingly a very long way away, plus that robot was quickly heading back towards him...

'Eggman's robot!' Sonic thought in alarm, now realising the danger he was in, but far too late.

**WHACK!**

Sonic was sent flying upwards again, now slightly less dazed than from the first crash, but still enough to render the blue hero temporarily defenceless. Sonic groaned, the effects of the blow now making themselves known to his mind. At this point, Sonic was able to focus his mind to one rational thought, which summed up the whole situation.  
'This is way past uncool...'

* * *

Down at ground level, a yellow taxicab stopped just a block away from the construction site. Out of the front passenger door, Douglas quickly stepped out.

"Why's the place so empty?" Kaufman asked, looking over at the police barricade, devoid of policemen and people to keep back.  
"That's why! Up there!" Douglas replied, sharply raising an arm upwards and pointing a finger at a strange egg-shaped thing pointing at the sky. Eggman.  
"What the hell is that purple thing up there?" Kaufman said, pointing at a different direction in the sky. Douglas looked, and saw a big purple-coloured bird, which seemed to be bouncing a blue ball of its beak and letting roll clumsily down it back.  
"...Well, it might be a safe bet to say that bird-thing is one of Eggman's robots, and it seems to be getting the better of Sonic..."

It was then another thing in the sky caught Douglas' attention. The Tornado. It was heading over to where the robot and Sonic where.  
"Don't worry, Tails will save his ass."  
"But what about that emerald thing that..."  
"Shit! You're right, I better get that before Eggman does!"  
"What, on foot?"  
"It'll attract less attention, don't worry about it" Douglas said, pulling out a twenty-dollar-bill and throwing it to Kaufman through the opened passenger window. "Keep the change." Douglas said, before heading off towards the construction site, leaving a confused cab driver to watch the aerial battle unfold.

* * *

"I AM NOT A BALL!" Sonic shouted, as he was humiliatingly bounced off E-11's beak for around the thirtieth time.

"Amy! It looks like Sonic will need a ring!" Tails said, as the Tornado rapidly approached Sonic's position. Amy quickly reached into the pouch that hung off the pilot's seat, and pulled out a gold Power Ring. Amy sighed as she looked at it, hoping that maybe one day someone would have a gold ring for her...  
'Someone? Why not Sonic?' Amy quickly shrugged the odd thought off, as she held the ring above her head and began to wave it.  
"SONIKKU! I'M COMING TO RESCUE YOU!" Amy shouted as the Tornado moved closer towards the Eggman robot that was still tossing Sonic up and down in the air. "CATCH!" She shouted, throwing the ring with all her might towards her beloved Sonic.

Luckily, at this point, Sonic had been thrown a little higher up than usual, and had now regained enough sense to realise what was going on around him, including the usually fear-inducing voice of Amy Rose. Sonic looked to where her voice, and the accompanying sound of the Tornado's engine, where coming from, and saw a Power Ring coming towards him. Sonic smiled.

"Just what the Doctor didn't order!" Sonic joked to himself as the ring flew closer towards him. The ring was a bit above him when it suddenly stopped, and began heading straight downwards. Sonic opened up his hands wide, and brought his arms back slightly, preparing himself to secure the ring. The ring came down to Sonic's eye level, at which point Sonic brought his hands tightly together. Sonic then felt a strangely familiar sweat-drop appear on the side of his head, as he watched the ring fly slightly back up due to the wind draft he had created as a side-effect of bringing his gloved palms together, and then return to plummeting straight back down to the ground, ironically heading for the construction site.

"No way!" Sonic said out loud in anguish, realising that after this second major screw-up, his hand-to-eye coordination needed some serious working on...

"Amy! It didn't work!" Tails called out, following the downward path of the golden ring.  
"Oh no! I've failed my Sonikku..." Amy said sadly, also watching the ring fall down.  
"We're just too far away!" Tails reasoned, now focusing his attentions back to the matters at hand. There was no use crying over spilt rings.  
"Do you think we can get any closer?" Amy asked, hopefully pointing back at 'her' blue hedgehog.  
"It'll be tough, but there are things that only I can do!" Tails said, turning his head back to the controls and moving the Tornado back towards his best friend, as Amy pulled out another ring.

Eggman watched the gold ring fall away as well, and laughed heartily at the mistake of the common blue thorn in his side.  
"This is working out better than even I'd expected! While they all worry about Beakon, I'll just sneak down and take the Chaos Emerald!" Eggman then gripped the two control sticks of his Egg-Pod, and began moving it downwards, into the construction site.

* * *

Douglas had sneaked right up to the entrance of the building site, even avoiding the three-person local news team, which was filming the battle in the sky, which had been no easy feat, considering that usually he would have just stood drooling over Scarlet Garcia. But he was focused in grabbing that emerald before Eggman did, even deciding to put on his 'battle-gloves'. He looked up at the sky to see what the situation was, and was greeted by a strange sight. There was something heading down at him, and it appeared to be something very reflective... Douglas cupped his hands together, and easily caught the falling object. Douglas almost dropped it when he realised what it was. A Power Ring.

'Odd... I'll have to ask about how this...' Douglas thought, but was brought back to reality when he saw the Egg-Pod sitting motionless inside the site compound, and the large shape of Eggman kneeled down digging away at the ground. Douglas, without another thought, put the ring securely in his pocket and leapt over the police barriers.

Eggman grabbed a hold of the large blue sheet and tossed it aside, having an extreme dislike of the colour, and began to dig away at the earth below, knowing full well that his goal was somewhere underneath this earth. Eggman threw handful after handful of dirt over his shoulders, creating a small hole in the ground, until a small, hard, green shape stuck out of the hole. Eggman gasped in surprise, was this for real? Had he actually beaten Sonic in a race? Eggman dug away again, with more eagerness, and then broadly grinned. There, lying in the dirt was the full shape of the green Chaos Emerald. Eggman let a short laugh pass through the toothy grin of his smile as he leant a hand downwards to take a firm hold of the emerald...

"MINE!" A voice shouted out, also mockingly, as a slightly worn brown leather glove reached down and swiped up the emerald, leaving Eggman to grab another handful of dirt.  
"WHAT?" Eggman roared out, "Who dares insult the great Doctor Eggman like this?"  
"The name's Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke if you must know!" A young purple haired man replied, holding the emerald in his hand. Eggman looked up at him, and saw that he looked strangely familiar to the purple-haired man with face-paint who had hit him over the head with a baseball bat when he'd used E-23 to try and take over Station Square. He was less threatening looking that before; perhaps he had deliberately snuck up like this to avoid attention? That thought wasn't important right now, as this 'Douglas' man was walking away with his emerald!  
'So this is one of the Chaos Emeralds that I've heard about huh?' Douglas thought, looking at the emerald. 'It doesn't seem to be doing much...'

"...This is astonishing news that we are seeing ladies and gentlemen! He has actually stopped the evil Doctor Eggman from grabbing the magnetic gemstone!" A familiar female voice called out. Apparently Douglas had attracted the attention of the news crew, as the camera was pointed right at Douglas, and amazed looks were on the faces of the crew, more especially Scarlet's. Douglas smirked at the thought of having impressed her. That was all the distraction Eggman needed.

Eggman struck Douglas' hand that held the emerald quickly, and that, combined with the distraction of the news crew, meant success for Eggman. The emerald flew upwards and into Eggman's other hand in a swift motion, just as Douglas realised what was going on.

"HEY! I got that first!" Douglas said, pointing a finger aggressively at Eggman.  
"Too bad kiddo!" Eggman smirked, walking over towards his Egg-Pod. "Besides, you wouldn't know what to do with such power of a Chaos Emerald!"  
"I know enough not to let you have it!" Douglas shouted back, running at Eggman.

Eggman turned his head around to see the lunging figure of Douglas come running at him with an arm raised to chest level. The Doctor couldn't even defend himself as Douglas hit him harshly over with a clothesline, knocking Eggman backwards into his Egg-Pod awkwardly. Douglas climbed up on the side of the craft and reached in hoping to grab the emerald away from the genius scientist. Eggman then frantically tried shoving his attacker away, but found that he was unusually strong compared to other humans on this planet that he'd encountered.

"Give me that damn emerald!"  
"The great Eggman answers to no-one! It is my emerald!"

Eggman then brought his large boot up in a desperation attempt to free himself, and one that managed to catch Douglas off guard, sending him down a very short distance to the ground below, as Douglas landed abruptly on his backside. Eggman readjusted himself, quickly grabbing the Egg-Pod controls and bringing the craft upwards into the sky. Eggman heard gasps from the people with the television camera, and assumed they were in awe of the great Eggman leaving. He was only partially right, as they were in awe. In awe of the human grabbing a hold of the long red spike that stuck out from the bottom of the Egg-Pod.

'I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a fat whale like him get the better of Douglas Smicktor!' Douglas proclaimed to himself as he climbed a bit up the spike, before realising that he feet be strangely free from feeling anything underneath them. Douglas looked down at his feet, and saw the construction site moving away from him. Douglas then thought out load of something, although crude, which summed up his view of the situation  
"...OH SHIT!"

* * *

**WHACK!**

"OWW! QUIT IT!"

Again Beakon sent Sonic painfully flying high into the sky again, almost as if it was getting tired of the lack of retaliation. This time, Sonic was sent extra high up in the air. Sonic cringed as he spun around in the air, like a cartwheel, thinking desperately for a solution to his situation. Sonic looked around, and saw the Tornado again, but more importantly, the Power Ring that Amy was holding aloft.  
"SONIKKU!" Amy called out again, signalling to the ring she held.

With almost military like precision, Sonic spun out of the wheel-like shape he was in, and extended out an arm just as he rose up and came level with Amy and the Tornado. Sonic outstretched a finger and loosely caught hold of the ring, before Amy allowed it to slide delicately out of her hand and into Sonic's as he took a tight grip of it.  
"Thanks Ames!" Sonic called out as he continued upwards, ring firmly in hand. Amy blushed brightly at the complement, knowing she'd helped the love of her life.

Sonic gritted his teeth, as a deadly serious expression came over his usually carefree face. His fist was beginning to glow and vibrate as the locked energy of the ring began to seep out and power up his entire body. It was time to right the humiliation that this robot had caused him. Sonic travelled up high, still going on the momentum from the last clash with E-11, only recognisable by his blue fur and now glowing right hand. All of a sudden, Sonic seemed to stop, and change course, but now he was hurtling downwards, with his clenched right hand leading the charge, now bursting with power. It was now Sonic's turn to have small white trails of air come streaming off his body, as he headed towards Beakon at a blistering pace, reaching speeds that no-one else could in the short time-span that he had.

Without warning, Sonic had changed in a blink of an eye into his infamous and natural ball shape, as he spun faster than the eye could see, in preparation for his patented Spin-Dash Attack. Beakon saw no difference in the movement pattern of the hedgehog, it had gone up, so was sure to come down. Beakon again charged at Sonic with the same speed it had done before, but now the tables were turned. It was Sonic who had the greater speed, so much like Beakon had done earlier to him in the first smash, and Sonic was now the one attacking. Sonic smashed brutally through the metallic armour of the front beak of the robot, smashing down into the pipes, cables and circuits that lay deep inside the machine, and bursting through the flaming engines at the back without even a scratch on him. Sonic had drilled a makeshift hole straight through it. Not shortly before Sonic had exited the robot, did electric sparks come flying out of the two newly made holes in E-11, followed by a thunderous explosion and a thick cloud of smoke and bolts that signalled the end of the E-robot known as Beakon, and victory for the hedgehog known as Sonic.

* * *

Eggman laughed to himself, as he opened up his hand to look at the prize of his day's work. The green Chaos Emerald lay mystically dormant in his palm, secretly hiding its powers. It would not be long before Eggman could use the emerald to build a mecha powerful enough to withstand even a Power Ring attack. Eggman was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the large explosion behind him, or the fact that there was something on the wing... Something... On the wing.

Douglas latched on tightly to the thin wing of the Egg-Pod, it wasn't big enough to fully hold his whole outstretched body, curse his wrestler body, but he had sturdy enough gloves to hold onto the wing for a long time. But hopefully not too long. The news of Beakon's destruction finally appeared on the control screen of Eggman's craft, not that the news did anything to take away from his success. Eggman looked over to his left to see if he could locate where E-11 last moments had occurred, but found himself being intrigued by what seemed to be purple hair on the left wing. Eggman's smile turned sadistic, as he grabbed a hold of the flight controls and caused the Pod to lurch violently downwards, causing Douglas to lose balance and leave his legs dangling off the wing. Eggman was attempting to make Douglas fall to his demise.

* * *

Sonic landed firmly on the street just beside a white van, and looked around to see three people with film equipment filming him. Sonic flashed his trademark smile, before having his moment of glory cut short by a shout from high above him. They all looked up, Douglas was in a struggle with Eggman high in the sky.

'By the Walkers!He'll get killed if he falls from that height!' Sonic thought, before racing down the street ahead in the direction of the Egg-Pod.

* * *

"TAILS! LOOK!" Amy screamed, pointing over at what looked to be someone struggling with Eggman on this side of the Egg-Pod in the distance.  
"DOUGLAS!" Tails called out in alarm, seeing the huge potential for injury should Douglas fall from that height.  
"We've gotta help him!" Amy said, gripping the top of the seat in front of her in fear for the life of her new friend.  
"I'm on it!" Tails said, flipping a switch on the side of the Tornado's control panel, which caused a fuel injection into the 'plane's engine, increasing the propeller rotation as the Tornado headed towards the Egg-Pod.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? KILL ME?" Douglas shouted out at the Doctor as the Egg-Pod came level again.  
"That could be seen as a bonus..." Eggman pondered, still smiling an evil grin. "I haven't forgotten that little blow to the head from last week!" Eggman said again, lurching the Pod sharply.  
"I'M ALWAYS 4GOT10!" Douglas roared, grabbing out in desperation after finally losing his grip. It happened that Douglas managed to grab a hold of Eggman's long moustache, as signified by the shouts of pain that came as Douglas' whole body weight was suspended by his moustache.  
"ARRRGGGHHH!" Eggman called out, Douglas was, unfortunately for the Doctor, not even a cruiserweight wrestler. The shock was almost enough to cause Eggman to drop the Chaos Emerald. "GET OFF! GET OFF!"  
"HELL NO!" Douglas said, as if he was going to willingly plummet to his doom.  
"LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO!" Eggman wailed out, as he used both hands to attempt to push Douglas away. Eggman struggled, as did Douglas, until Douglas tried to grab the moustache with his other hand, the movement just enough for Eggman to push Douglas away, as he fell with strands of facial hair in his hand.  
"SHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT!" Was the last Eggman heard of Douglas, as he now turned his attention to himself.

"That man was quite a handful! Youngsters these days have no respect for their elders..." Eggman said, straightening out his 'tache with his hands. "He almost ruined my finest feature! It'll take me hours to fix this..." Eggman trailed off, as he realised something. He was fixing his 'tache with BOTH hands, so which hand was holding onto the emerald?  
"...AH! MY EMERALD!"

* * *

Douglas looked down in horror as he fell towards the city below, the air bitterly whistling in his ears as he prepared to meet his maker. His only consolation he could find in this moment was that he's managed to grab the emerald as it fell out of Eggman's hand when he pushed him off. Not that it made him feel any better right now. This was the end.

'Bloody brilliant!' He thought, 'The day I make it in wrestling and I bloody die because of an oversized gem! Whichever God exists must have a messed-up sense of humour!'

* * *

"Hurry it up Stuart! That explosion came from above the construction site!"  
"I'm going as fast as this thing can go Topaz, but it doesn't help that you're..."  
"What the hell is that thing?" Topaz enquired, pointing out a shape falling from the sky, and one that seemed to have...  
"HOLY! THAT'S DOUGLAS!"  
"WHAT? HOW THE HELL DID HE?"

Stuart didn't continue with the talk, as he pressed a thick black button on the control panel of his car. Upon pressing it, the roof of the car mechanically pulled away and secured itself on the back of the car, as the rear seats inflated into a special cushion, usually only used to give parachuting agents a safe landing.

"And they said this feature was useless!" Stuart smirked.  
"Never mind that, we have to save him!"  
"Right!" Stuart said, flooring the accelerator of the car, racing in a battle against time to save the contact they needed, and the man they subconsciously respected.

* * *

Douglas closed his eyes, bringing his arms over across his head to shield them, knowing that when he hit the ground, he would probably not survive. Still gripping the Chaos Emerald, he cringed not at the thought of death, he'd been through too much in his life to be afraid of that, but of not for filling the final promise that Douglas had made with Chris. It was the thoughts of this that, unknown to Douglas, was making the Chaos Emerald glimmer slightly, as it reacted to the pain in the heart of its holder.

* * *

"We're... We're not going to make it!" Topaz said, her voice full of shock and worry, as Douglas moved closer and closer towards the ground below.  
"Hold on, we're nearly there, we're nearly..."

Suddenly, an incredible burst of speed rushed past the motorcar as a blue blur raced past the car, up the road ahead. Both Mr. Stuart and Topaz's eyes went wide and their mouths dropped as they witnessed Sonic the Hedgehog in action. In one amazing movement, Sonic leapt of the road surface, scooped up Douglas in his arms, and hit the ground still running, and off into the distance once more.

Stuart carefully brought the car to a stop, as both he and Topaz breathed a sigh of relief. Their contact was safe.  
"Well... It's good to know that someone else is looking out for him..." Stuart stated, trying to sound as if he'd expected the whole thing to happen.  
"Yeah... That confirms the friendship between the animals and Douglas..."  
"Um, I guess I better head back to the arena now, get Douglas' match schedule complete for the month..." Stuart said, starting the car up again, and performing a three-point-turn and heading back to the arena.  
"Wait! What about that emerald?"  
"Oh yeah, I guess we better..."  
"Come in Topaz, do you read me, over?" Topaz's radio crackled into life again.  
"This is Topaz, what is..."  
"Topaz, this whole incident has just made national news! The images of Douglas falling from Eggman's ship with that gem in his hand have just gone all over the country, and soon enough the world is going to want to know what's happening! We can forget about being secretive about it now, it's back to good old-fashioned denial. Over and Out."

At that point, Stuart and Topaz looked at each other, and then looked at the road ahead. The next few days and months were going to be VERY difficult...

* * *

"There you have it Chuck: One Chaos Emerald, courtesy of 4GOT10 and Douglas Thorndyke!" Douglas said, proudly kneeling down and holding out the Chaos Emerald in his hand, as his step-grandfather, Tails, Cream, Cheese and Amy gathered around to see it.  
"This is just the start, isn't it?" Cream happily asked, holding her Chao friend/pet in her arms.  
"And there's only six more left to find now!" Amy replied, just as pleased.  
"But... We can't keep it here, its energy will effect my research equipment and the surrounding electrical appliances in the area!" Chuck said, still a little sceptical of the emerald.  
"That won't be a problem Chuck!" Tails said, "Back in our world, I built a machine that was able to contain the Chaos Energy of the emeralds, so it should be no problem to make a similar machine here! Besides, if any of your machines go wrong, I'll be glad to help you fix them!"  
"Ha-ha! Alright, it's a deal!" Chuck replied, comforted by the offer.

Douglas was not so cheery. He'd managed to get over the shock of near-death after a few beers, but it wasn't that which was bothering him. Douglas looked over at Sonic, who was relaxing in the windowsill that he regularly used as a sleeping spot when the furries came together to talk with Douglas and Chuck. Douglas sighed, gripped the emerald a little tighter, and walked over to Sonic. Sonic looked around from gazing out the window and up at Douglas.

"Listen, Sonic. I just want to apologise for..."  
"Apologise? For what?"  
"Well, I may have judged you wrongly before, so I just want to say..."  
"Hey, don't sweat it, we all make mistakes. Besides, you were way cool going after Egg-Brain like that!" Sonic said, giving Douglas a thumbs-up as he smiled.  
"Really? Well, I mean, of course I did! I couldn't let that tub of lard get away with the emerald could I?" Douglas said, filling his voice with mock self-confidence, which brought out an even bigger smile in Sonic.  
"That may be the case, but I don't think you should make that a regular habit." Chuck intervened, moving over to Douglas. "You two are already a bit too alike anyway!" Chuck added, before breaking out into a full-blown laugh.

Douglas tilted his head slightly at Chuck, before looking back at Sonic, who simply shrugged his shoulders. He then looked at Tails and Amy, who smiled at Douglas. Douglas got the same reaction when looking at Cream and Cheese, and by the time he looked back at Chuck, he had finished laughing.

"Yeah... Well, I'm not gonna make any promises I know I can't keep..." Douglas reasoned out loud, before raising his hand back up and looking at the emerald again. "But I do know that I owe you one big time Sonic, and I always keep a promise."

Douglas smiled, looking back to his animal friends. "Anything could happen when I'm around you guys!"

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview – Voiceover by Douglas

"Not even a picnic is simple when Sonic's friends are involved, but this time a trip for a Chaos Emerald turns into a fight for survival! Why is Knuckles so eager to lay a beating on Sonic, how is Eggman involved in all this, and why do I have a distinct feeling that everything isn't as it seems?

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: '**Unknown from E.G.G.**'! Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author Notes: This episdoe took long than I expected, due to my overall lazyness and real-life stuff, but I'm still pleased with how it all worked out. This chapter was harder than the others due to the points describing Douglas' life and the possible effects of Chris' death on him. You'll hear Douglas' side of the story later on. The whole S.S.C. company will be explained more in episode 6, and you'll also get to see 4GOT10 in action as well. Also, if you didn't guess by now, I have a weird sence of humour, so some lines in this episode may have sounded very strange. It all makes sence in my mind. Now what shall I talk about? Oh yes, my reviewers... 

_Shady Fetish_ - There's quite a bit of action in this episode, so I hope you like it. Thanks for liking my descriptions of stuff, it allows you to follow the story in you mind.  
_Sonic/Anime_ - Yeah, Knuckles rules. That's what you'll be getting in this story, more Knuckles, more Chaotix, more Shadow, and even a little more Big (trust me, you'll love where I have him show up). I'll try and give a better description of Douglas in Episode 6, since it would be relevent there. I hope you enjoy this episode.  
_Julie Riley/Julayla Beryl_ - Yes, I have heard of Fang, and he does play a part, but only later (did you spot some hints of his appearence in this episode?). As for the series, it has a total of 52 episodes, the same as Sonic X, but different storylines. I won't give anything away just yet, but I think that true Sonic fans will love what I've got in store.

There you go, now that you've read this episode, please review it so I know that I'm doing this right. Reviews make me a happy writer and stop me from putting off finishing chapters. Seroiusly. This has been Airo Smicktor with the next part of Sonic eXcluded.

_N.B. Edited on 20-11-04 for paragraphing and minor editing  
Edited 01/05/05 - All Song lyrics have been removed as par the rules of FanFiction-dot-net._


	5. Unknown from E G G

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

I, Airo Smicktor, being of partial sound mind, do declare that I have no ownership of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X or any other associated characters; only the ownership of Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke. Aye.

* * *

Episode Prelude:

A flash of light in the dark, cloudy night sky. Count the distance: One elephant, two elephant, three... A clear rumbling sound interrupts the count. The storm is not that far away, and already light rainfall is causing small puddles of water to form on the street pavements below. It's a clear sign to anyone who's a 'believer' or any believer in a God (or Gods if their religion has more than one) of something bad approaching, and it might not just be the weather...

A small parting in the clouds allows the light of the crescent moon to shine down into the darker alleyways and corners of Station Square where the streetlights could not light up. This included a small tenement area of the city, where most of the windows and doors were so blacked out or boarded up that it would make no difference if any lights were turned on or not. Gloomy didn't even come close, but it made the area quiet. The only sounds were the barking of dogs from another side of the city, a police car siren moving through the streets, and the harsh whistling of the wind as it caused a thrown away newspaper to rustle down the empty streets... Well, nearly empty... For the crescent moon of the sky was also shining down on the crescent moon of the Guardian.

Knuckles sat on an upside-down trashcan the he flipped over as a makeshift seat with his strong gloved left hand resting under his chin, and his left foot just on the edge of the can, so that the left knee came up to Knuckles' face, which he used to further rest his hand and chin on. He looked up at the moon, without really looking at it. His mind was on other things rather than this world's solar system. There was only really one place that Knuckles really wanted to return to...

Another rustling sound was heard, and Knuckles felt a strange rubbing on his right leg. He looked down. A newspaper had gotten caught on his leg as it dangled I his seated position. Sighing in only slight annoyance, Knuckles reached down and picked up the paper, looking at the front page. A photograph caught his eye. It was of Sonic, seeming leaping upwards to attack Dr. Eggman who was in his Egg-Pod. Knuckles did not care to read the article that accompanied the picture, suddenly losing interest upon seeing Sonic. Knuckles open up his hand, allowing the wind to carry the newspaper away into the distance.

* * *

Knuckles watched the paper fly upwards towards the sky, letting his mind drift elsewhere, far from the city. As he looked up, the flying paper slowly morphed into feathers and wings, transforming into a majestic eagle. In the Echidna's mind, the tall skyscrapers changed into tall mountains, the smaller buildings into trees and forests, and the night sky became a clear blue one.

Knuckles saw the eagle soar high over the treetops, swooping down slightly as if to catch a current only it could detect to help its flight. The eagle cleared the tree with ease, and proceeded to fly straight over a large clearing, which had a central feature of a large, ruined temple-like structure, with only the main steps leading up to the central podium still intact. At the top of the steps, a huge, green, glowing emerald shined, while a red Echidna stood alert and emotionless, guarding it with his life. Knuckles saw himself back at the Master Emerald shrine, carrying out his duty as Guardian and protector of the Floating Island and the Master Emerald.

* * *

The image in his mind faded, and Knuckles was left still surrounded by the unfamiliar surroundings of the city, of the dark alleyways, of the heavy footsteps behind him... Knuckles' ears pricked up, although hidden by his dread locked quills, as he turned his head towards the direction of the sound. A dark street, unlit by both streetlight and moonshine, was the source; a figure in the shadows was barely recognisable. Knuckles stood up on the trashcan, as the figure continued to approach, slowly becoming recognisable as it stepped into the light. Knuckles saw the black boots and pants, the bright red coat with yellow buckles, and the unmistakeable long moustache...

"Eggman!" Knuckles said, raising up his fists, surprised that the Doctor had arrived on foot rather than in one of his machines, probably why his senses hadn't picked up on him before. A tense silence followed, as both Eggman and Knuckles looked at each other. Eggman broke the silence, unsurprisingly, but the way in which he broke it certainly was.

Without warning Eggman suddenly dropped to his knees falling to the pavement and bowing his head low, sobbing uncontrollably.  
"Please help me!" Eggman spluttered out between sobs, causing Knuckles to look at Eggman in surprise. Knuckles as shocked even more when Eggman rose up quickly and grabbed a hold of Knuckles' hands with his own. Knuckles became a little annoyed with this, gritting his teeth. "The Chaos Emeralds are here Knuckles! They're in this world!" Eggman continued.  
"Huh?" Knuckles replied, hearing the Doctor's words.  
"You know as well as I do..." Eggman continued, "...That if we can get the seven Chaos Emeralds together, we can create another Chaos Control that would send us all safely back to our world again!"  
"Wha... We?"  
"Yes Knuckles, I need your help again!"  
"My help? Why?"  
"Because if we don't do something, Sonic could make us prisoners in this world forever!" Eggman replied, causing Knuckles' eyes to narrow. "He's the reason why we're here in the first place! Don't you remember?"

"Remember? Of course... Of course I..."

* * *

Knuckles stood on a tall rock, arms crossed, waiting. He looked out at the great clearing in front of him, and at Eggman's latest base. An impressive sight, with high-reinforced walls, and a large tower in the centre. A loud air raid like siren called out, as large searchlights suddenly came on in the base, lighting it up against the darkness of the night. Hatches in the walls of the base opened up, as domed sliver gun turrets rolled out on tracks from the base to the outside, taking up position. It was a sign that Sonic was on his way.

"Sonic knew he could use the Chaos Emeralds' powers to warp time and space, that's the reason why he attacked my base, he just tricked Tails and Amy into thinking I was going to use the emeralds to cause harm and that I'd kidnapped Cream! I was only protecting her so that Sonic wouldn't be a bad example to her!"

Suddenly, the guns starting blazing as a blue streak raced across the grass, firing streams of bullets across the clearing, attempting to take down the speedy hedgehog, but Sonic was easily outrunning them, with a look of mischief on his face, as Knuckles recalled. Missiles began being launched from within Eggman's compound, surging forward before taking off into the sky and looming downwards, aiming to smash into the hedgehog.

"Sonic somehow found out that I had collected all the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of his grasp! You know just how reckless Sonic can be..."

Missiles left trails of exhaust gases behind them as they smashed into the ground; coming down on the position Sonic had been seconds after Sonic had moved away. Sonic headed directly towards the gun turrets, and used his jumping ability to bounce off the domed turrets and use them as stepping stones to enter Eggman's base. Sonic disappeared over the large wall, leaving Knuckles shaking his head, as he heard loud crashes off metal come from inside the base.

"...So naturally I built defences to protect myself and my research..."

Knuckles heard a loud spring like sound, accompanied by a hard thud-like noise, and Sonic was seemingly sent flying out of Eggman's base into the sky. The roaring engine of the Tornado sounded through the sky, as it cut through the air, flying over the base to reach Sonic. This was a stupid move, and the Tornado, carrying Tails and Amy, was left wide open to attack, and was hit with a barrage of machine-gun fire, which ripped holes in the 'plane and caused flames to pour out. That Sonic was a bad example all right, Tails should never be that reckless, especially with someone as delicate as Amy on board... Huh, when did Knuckles start caring about Amy?

"...But Sonic had made that poor child Tails almost as crazy as himself! My defences accidentally shot down the Tornado when they tried to stop Sonic..."

A small hatch opened up in the underbelly of the Tornado, and a long rocket was fired out of it. The rocket seemed to be heading straight towards Sonic, who was free falling towards the thick woods of the Great Forest. Suddenly, the rocket split itself open, revealing a gold Power Ring that radiated in light and raced towards Sonic, using the momentum the rocket had supplied. Sonic disappeared out of sight, followed a second later by the Ring.

"I was so afraid of what Sonic might do with the emeralds, that my fear clouded over my judgement, and I had to watch in horror as Sonic not only burst through my defences, but left Tails behind, not caring that his 'plane was going to crash into the ground!"

Sonic burst out of the trees, in a rapidly spinning ball shape, his Spin-Dash Attack. Knuckles watched as Sonic ripped through the gun turrets as if they were pinball bumpers. But Knuckles' attention was brought to something else. The damage suffered by the Tornado had rendered the engine useless, and in attempt to bring the 'plane to an emergency stop on the ground, Tails and Amy were now skidding towards the rock that Knuckles was standing on. Knuckles sighed and shook his head at the two, before back flipping off the top of the rock, positioning himself behind it. Knuckles readied himself, mentally focusing, as he kneeled down on one knee and brought his clenched fist backwards, his infamous spiked knuckles pointing directly at the rock. In one swift motion, Knuckles aggressively smashed his fist forward, smashing the rock into tiny fragments, just in time as the Tornado skidded past him in the cloud of dust that was caused by the breakage, a wing sailing over Knuckles' head. Sensing the 'plane's safety, Knuckles leapt back up to the top of what was left of the rock, looking over his shoulder at Tails and Amy, who looked up at him as a saviour. He seemed to be saving Amy a lot nowadays, isn't that Sonic's job?

"But there was no stopping Sonic this time, he was willing to push his selfish search for thrills all the way this time, no matter who got hurt! He broke into my base..."

Knuckles turned away from the two furries below, turning his attention back to the base. There were many explosions bursting up inside the compound, and Knuckles noticed that one of the large searchlights on the main tower had been smashed right through. Sonic must have gotten in that way. Overkill, just like always.

"...And reached where I had the Chaos Emeralds. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen! Finally, he just smashed right into the machine I was using to contain the Chaos Energy, and to my horror, his heartless plan succeeded..."

An uneasy silence filled the air, as fires burned around the bottom of the tower, as Knuckles watched to see what happened next. Amy and Tails had both climbed up to where Knuckles was, but no one had any idea what was going on. This was taking too long for a simple rescue mission, something was wrong. What was Sonic doing now? Suddenly, a bright beam of light appeared out of the top of the Eggman tower, followed by similar beams from all over the top of the tower, before the whole tower itself turned into a bright pillar of white, transforming into an expanding white dome of energy.

"...Sonic caused my machine to malfunction, and Chaos Control was triggered! Sonic sent us all here, just for the fun of it!"

Knuckles looked at the rapidly approaching light, knowing full well what it was. The legendary Chaos Control. Knuckles stood up straight, his arms folded over his chest, as he let the light engulf him...

* * *

"...Yes... I remember... I remember it all now... That was what Sonic did? So it really was Sonic's fault that I'm stuck here!" Knuckles said, hints of anger appearing in his face, as he came out from the flashback he had of the time before he had been sent to this world.

"I only tried to, as Sonic put it, 'take over the world', to make it a better place..." Eggman started, now holding a large handkerchief up to his glasses. "...But every time I tried, Sonic just ruined everything!" Eggman finished, before loudly blowing his nose. Knuckles seemed to feel a little sorry for Eggman, he had never seen him in such a state before, so he stepped off the trashcan and put a comforting hand on Eggman's shoulder. Knuckle saw Eggman smile at this, but not in the way Knuckles was thinking. Knuckles could not see the glint appearing in Eggman's eye from knowing that the Echidna was trusting him.  
"Oh Knuckles, I can't thank you enough for listening to me..." Eggman began again, crying even more into his handkerchief. "...You're not like that awful Sonic, he wouldn't even let me explain myself! I don't even know why he thinks that I'll just profit from the Chaos Emeralds..."

Knuckles listened again to Eggman, as he carried on telling his sad story. Knuckles didn't even recognise that Eggman had been crying a lot, without actually shedding any tears.

"Sonic says that he was so tired of our world, he wanted something new, so he sent us all here, and now he's going to keep us all stuck here for as long as he wants! All he's doing right now is running around, playing tricks on people, setting a bad example for Tails and Cream..." Eggman looked up at Knuckles, this didn't seem to be getting the reaction he wanted. "...Breaking Amy's heart..." Knuckles eye twitched, and he clenched his fists.

'Oh! It seems I've hit a nerve on that one! Very interesting..." Eggman thought to himself.

"That... That selfish son of a hedgehog!" Knuckles spat out through gritted teeth.  
"That's not the worst of it! I managed to find a Chaos Emerald, hoping to find them all to reverse the Chaos Control, and do you know what happened?" The Doctor said, looking at Knuckles. The Guardian shook his dread locked head. "He stole the emerald from me for himself!"  
Knuckles' fist began visibly shaking, now this was getting personal. But it wasn't enough for Eggman; he needed to get the Echidna loathing Sonic...  
"...I would have thought you'd known all this Knuckles, seeing as how you're such good friends with Sonic and everything..." Eggman seemed to turn his head and say to thin air, as if expecting a look at a television camera to speak to a viewer of a cartoon show, or a reader of an extremely well-written and review deserving piece of fan-fiction.

"THAT HEDGEHOG IS NO FRIEND OF MINE!" Knuckles roared, spinning around and punching a hole deep into the trashcan he had sat on before, sending the can flying down the street, with a force strong enough that caused the can to smash through a boarded up doorway, creating a new entrance for the building.  
'Jackpot!' Eggman thought, a little surprised at how angry Knuckles was, but knowing he could use that to his advantage.  
"Our alliance had a purpose!" Knuckles said loudly with frustration and vengeance boiling in his voice. "That partnership was only temporary! If I get you back the Chaos Emerald, will you send me back to my Floating Island?"  
"Of course I will Knuckles! I want to get out of this place just as much as you do, but what about Sonic? He said that he would crush anyone who dared to get in his way of having fun!"  
"Then I'll grind his ignorant skull six feet into the ground!" Knuckles said, raising a fist up to the sky, as if asking for a blessing from the Gods. "I'll battle him to the bitter end! It's time to settle this once and for all!" Knuckles proclaimed up to the night sky.

Behind him, Knuckles did not notice Eggman smile at Knuckles' words, but not because Knuckles was going to help him, but because Knuckles was going to do all the dirty work for him.  
'Ah Knuckles, you're still as gullible as ever I see... Thanks to you, my chronic Sonic problems are over!' Eggman smirked; phase two of his plan could now be put into place...

* * *

**Episode 5 – Unknown from E.G.G.**

**

* * *

**

Part 1:

"I SEE THE LINE IN THE SAND!" Douglas shouted out as he pushed the door into Chuck's garage open, heading towards the stairs up into the lab attic, banging his head along to the music blasting out of his earpieces. Douglas liked listening to his CD player very loudly. "TIME TO FIND OUT WHO I AM!" Douglas called out again, walking up the stairs and into the lab area. He saw Tails and Chuck, standing by a very big and new machine in the corner of the room, which was built into the walls of the room, looking at Douglas as if he'd just came in on fire. "LOOKING BACK TO SEE WHERE I STAND!"

"Douglas turn that thing off!" Chuck said, becoming slightly annoyed.  
"EVO- WHAT?" Douglas said, not hearing his step-grandfather's words through the sound of his music.  
"I SAID TURN IT OFF!"  
"Hang on a minute..." Douglas said, turning his music off so he could hear what was being said. "Okay, what were you saying?"  
"I SAID! Ahem, I said, turn the music off!"  
"I already have! You should've asked me that when I had the music on!"  
"I DID!"  
"Okay, I'll turn the music back on, then you can ask me again to..."  
"Ah, guys..." Tails said, intervening. "I think we better show Douglas what we've finished..."

"Oh right! This is the gismo that stops the emerald messing up the electronics right?" Douglas said, looking at a big, shiny tank-like machine, which held the green Chaos Emerald inside it. The machine was adorned with many lights, switches and displays, and the emerald could be clearly seen through the glass-like see-through panel on the front of the device. Douglas looked through the glass at the emerald, as did Tails.  
"Nice... Have you given this thing a name yet?"  
"The emerald?" Tails asked, puzzled by the question.  
"No not the emerald, I mean the machine!"  
"Oh, well I guess you could call it a 'Chaos Retainer and Analysis Programme'." Tails said, shrugging his shoulders. Douglas sniggered. "What's wrong with the name?" Tails asked, not understanding the joke, if there was one.  
"Oh nothing dude, it's just that you've got a big CRAP in the corner!" Douglas said, still sniggering to himself, now joined by Chuck.  
"WHAT? AH! Shoot! This always happens..." Tails said in frustration.  
"Don't worry, we'll just have to deal with the fact that the Chaos Emerald is in CRAP!" Chuck said, which caused Douglas to laugh out loud.  
"Oh god... This is too good! We'll be pulling... emeralds out of CRAP, and sticking them... into CRAP!" Douglas managed to say, between laughs. "Oh yes... That's the one; I won't be needing sugar now after laughing like that... Oh yes... Ah... Okay I'm good." Douglas finished regaining his composer. He looked at Tails, who had a real pissed-off look on his face.  
"Okay, I'm sorry man, let's take a gander at this emerald..."

"I mean, it really does just look like an ordinary gem doesn't it?" Douglas said, looking at the Chaos Emerald as it glowed in the machine.  
"Yes, but it holds amazing powers deep inside it!" Tails added.  
"I'm running a few tests on it just now, them I'll be able to figure out all that this emerald can do..."

Suddenly, a thumping sound on the hatch into the attic caught the attention of the Thorndykes and Prower, as all three looked at the source of the sound.  
"Mr. Thorndyke?" A female voice called up through the closed wooden hatch. Upon hearing the voice, Chuck and Douglas looked quickly at each other. "It's about time that I cleaned up there! You haven't let me clean up in there for weeks, I'm having to issue a dirt alert!"

"Ahhhh! Shitshitshit!" Douglas said under his breath quickly, looking very worried. "It's Ella! Hide Tails, before she sees you!"  
"Wha-what? Where?" Tails said, now looking equally worried.  
"I dunno! I rarely play the coward."

'Come on Miles, think fast!' Tails thought to him self, but quickly scanning the room for possible hiding places. Chuck's lab wasn't the greatest of places to play a game of hide and seek, since the few cupboards and storage boxes were full to the brim of old notes, newspaper articles and spare machine parts. Tails' sensitive ears picked up the low creaking noise of the hatch being opened, and since he was running low on options, he decided to try one of the oldest tricks in the book: Playing Dead. Tails threw himself in a quick motion onto one of the beanbags that had been left near the wall, and put on a big cheesy smile and a vacant look in his eyes. At that moment, Ella, the maid/cleaner/housekeeper, popped her head up into the attic. All she saw was Chuck Thorndyke pulling down a shutter on a big new machine in the corner of the room, and Douglas Thorndyke looking out the window. She didn't notice Tails, as he had positioned himself so that the bag obscured most of himself to anyone entering the room.

"Look at the mess this place is in!" Ella said, stepping up into the room with her vacuum cleaner under her arm.  
"Oh hi Ella!" Douglas said, pretending to have not heard her calling through the floor. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"  
"Hmm..." Was her only reply, as she eyed Douglas and Chuck suspiciously, before unwrapping the power cable from around the back of the vacuum.

Chuck looked down at Tails, who in his motionless state resembled a cuddly soft toy. 'Smart kit...' Chuck thought, turning his attention back to the threat of the cleaner.

"Maybe you two should go and enjoy the nice weather then..." Ella said, putting the plug at the end of the cable into a little wall socket and switching it on. "...It'll probably take me HOURS to tidy all this mess up, knowing what happened the last..."

Ella's voice trailed off as she noticed a golden looking stuffed animal that resembled a fox, which was slumped against a red bean-bag not too far from where she had came into the attic. She hadn't noticed it before; the bag must have hidden it from view when she came in. Ella's eyes lit up at the sight of the adorable looking fox with bright blue eyes and a warm smile, and a large smile appeared on her face. Which was a contrast to the now extremely worried looks on the faces of the Throndykes.

'Oh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...' Douglas thought.  
"Awww! Isn't this just the sweetest thing that I've ever seen?" Ella said, moving over and kneeling down to the 'toy'. "And for how long have you been keeping this a secret from me, hmm?" Ella said in an ironically mocking tone.  
"I... Um... I got it as a gift!" Douglas said, trying not to show the beads of sweat that were appearing on his head. "Mom sent it from her new movie... Something to do with marketing I think..."  
"Ah ha! She's been trying to spoil you again eh?" Ella said, her smile seemingly getting wider with this news, before looking back at the doll. The toy was just blankly staring ahead, into the far wall in front of it. Wait, was it? Ella could have sworn that the toy was just a second ago, but now it seemed to be looking straight back at her...

"AH!" Douglas said, quickly moving in and snatching up the fox toy from the floor up over his left shoulder, the action sudden enough to shock both the adults in the room. "Well, actually, I think it is best that we left you to tidy up Ella, I don't want to get IN THE WAY, right Chuck?" Douglas said, putting extra emphasis into 'IN THE WAY'.  
"Huh? Oh, yes! Besides, I feeling a little hungry now..." Chuck said, before following Douglas as he quickly darted down the stairs out of the garage, leaving behind a confused maid.  
'Did that toy... Have two tails?' Ella thought to herself as she heard the side door of the garage downstairs open and close, leaving her alone to her battle against dust.

* * *

"Marketing?" Chuck said questioningly, as both he, Douglas and Tails, who was being given a piggy-back ride by Douglas, moved quickly away from Chuck's garage, and around the main house.  
"You try making up rubbish like that on your feet! Most of my lines are written anyway!" Douglas replied, looking over his shoulder at his step-grandfather.  
"We were lucky she didn't suspect anything, huh?" Tails said, quite happy that he was now able to blink freely.  
"Yeah, but you better watch yourself Tails, Ella's taken quite a liking to you!" Chuck replied.  
"Huh? What?" Tails was puzzled.  
"Oh Tails, I can see you turning into a real heart-breaker when you're older..." Douglas said half-seriously, but not loud enough to break the slumber of a certain blue hedgehog on the roof of the house.  
"Don't worry yourself, that kind of thing doesn't happen for years!" Chuck reassured Tails, who was still clueless to what his two human friends were talking about.  
"Come on Chuck!" Douglas said, still looking back over his shoulder "I'm sure that he'll be able to..."

Douglas didn't finish his sentence, as he suddenly found his path blocked by something as he ran into it. Douglas stumbled back a couple of steps, but was sent back forward a step when Chuck ran into his back. Steadying himself, he quickly looking at what had caused his movement to falter. He looked at the sight of a tall man with short black hair and spectacles, who was wearing a common butler's suit with a light lilac bow tie.

"Master Douglas..." The man began in a very formal tone. "...What, may I ask, seems to be the cause of all this hurry?"  
"Oh, hi Mr. Tanaka!" Douglas said, smiling at the butler with a glint in his eyes. "There's actually a very good explanation to why I'm running."  
Mr. Tanaka arched an eyebrow at the young man, and also to the elderly man behind him, who seemed to be chuckling slightly, although no 'joke' had yet been told. "...And what would that be Sir?"  
"THE BRITISH ARE COMING! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!" Douglas suddenly shouted, standing to attention and doing a mock salute to the butler. "You barricade the windows, while myself and Private Fox here ready the battlements! TEN FOUR OVER AND OUT SIR!" Douglas finished before finishing his salute and quickly marching around Tanaka.

Tanaka watched Douglas move around him, until he had moved around his shoulder, so as not to turn his head fully to watch his young 'master' leaving. Tanaka had no intention of letting Douglas see the look of absolute disgust that he currently had. His attention quickly turned to the form of Chuck Thorndyke, who was cupping his hands over his mouth to try and subdue the giggles that were escaping from him. Tanaka regained his composure as the old man attempted to move forward.

"Master Chuck..." The butler began again, moving forward slightly to further draw the man's attention. "...As much as I would like to encourage your attempts at trying to stay youthful and participate in Master Douglas'... 'Training methods'... I would suggest that you might be better a playing more adult sports, more suitable for your age group, such as bowls."  
"Ha!" Chuck brushed aside the discouraging remarks. "I'll play British Bulldogs if I see fit to..."  
"With all due respect Sir..." Tanaka's voice became much more serious, as he leaned down to look directly at the former scientist, which caused Chuck to jump back slightly in surprise.  
"...I think it would be far more appropriate for people of your age to practise much more relaxing pastimes..." The face of the butler was adorned with a very disapproving look.  
"...Rest is very important for people like you, since you spend most of your time up in your laboratory. It's just as well that I came looking for you Master Chuck; it is time for your weekly swimming session." Tanaka raised his body back up to its vertical position.  
"I, Tanaka, will gladly drive you there, so come along..."

Douglas stepped off the gravel path, allowing Mr. Tanaka to forcefully push Chuck along in, towards the vehicle garage at the side of the house.

"I don't need anyone telling me what to do!" Chuck argued.  
"It is good to mix with people of your own age like this."  
"They're way too boring! I have an experiment running that I need to work on!"  
"I'm sure it will be there when you return Sir."  
"I'll have you know that I'm only holding back since you do all those karate lesions!"  
"Of course you are Sir, come along..."

Douglas shook his head as the arguing sounds faded behind the side of the house.  
'Poor Chuck...' He thought, not noticing that Tails was no longer pretending to be a toy and had also watched Chuck and Tanaka leave, or noticing what was about to run into him.  
"OWW!" Douglas heard as he felt something run into his legs from behind, but the effect wasn't very strong, or effective, to even move Douglas an inch. He turned around, and looked around for what had caused the female sounding noise, but could not see anything around him.

"Amy!" Tails said, quickly jumping down off Douglas' shoulders. Douglas watched the fox as he moved over to the pink hedgehog that was rubbing her arm, which was presumably caused when she'd fell onto the ground. Douglas hadn't noticed her before since he hadn't looked down at the ground.  
"Uh... Thanks Tails." Amy said as the kitsune gentlemanly helped the pink hedgehog up off the ground to a standing position.  
"No problem Amy!" Tails happily replied.  
"Yo Amy!" Douglas butted in, ending the pleasantries, as both the furries looked up to him. "What are doing runnin' around out here for? I told you stay inside in case anyone saw you..."  
"But this is important!" Amy said, with a worried expression taking place over the slightly pain-filled one she had on before. "They found another Chaos Emerald!"  
"Huh?" Tails and Douglas replied at the same time, and at once.  
"There's a news report on right now!"

* * *

"...It seems that the whole Silver Valley region is being effected by what police have described as 'energy spikes'..." a male reporter's voice spoke over a scrolling image of mountain scenery, "...which has played havoc with machinery, electronics and communications in the area. This incidents are eerily similar to those of the Station Square 'power crystal' incident of just a few days ago, and has fuelled worry and fear among the residents nearby, due to reported sightings of what has been described as a 'large machine'..."

"Is it really a Chaos Emerald then?" Douglas questioned, as he, Amy and Tails sat on the living room sofa, watching the report.  
"I guess so, but is it really that far away?" Tails replied.  
"Well, not really, Silver Valley's actually quite close by. It's a small-ish town where raw materials for computers and electronics were mined years ago, that's how it got its name. But nowadays it's a holiday spot, with a large reserve in the middle. I've heard it's a great picnic spot, but I've never been there yet..."  
"...With rumours of a strange fishing cat sighted near rivers..." the reporter continued  
"It won't take us that long to get there at all! You up for it guys?"  
"Yeah, no problem!" Tails replied. Amy, however, had only registered the word picnic in her mind, and was out the door.

"Sonic! Sonikku?" Amy called up from outside the house to the slumbering blue hedgehog resting on a white railing of the balcony of Douglas' room.  
"...Huh?" Sonic said, opening one eye half-open, slightly annoyed by the Pink One's interruption of his rest.  
"Did you hear the news?"  
"...What news?"  
"Douglas has found just the perfect spot in Silver Valley for us all to have a picnic together!"  
"...Picnic?" Tails questioned, poking his head out the doorway to listen to the conversation. Douglas was already upstairs in his room, looking out some stuff that he thought would be useful to take with him.

"Oh really?" Sonic replied, sarcastically. "I think I've already been there before..."  
"What?" Amy said, not noticing the sarcasm. "Already? Oh, so you saw it on one of your runs, did you? I hope you're not going to make me have fun on my own again, are you?"  
"...You said it Amy, not me!" Sonic said, smirking, refusing to use the other come-back he had thought off in reply to Amy's last statement.  
"Sonic you idiot! Fine! We'll just go and have more fun without you anyway! Come on Tails!" Amy said, storming off inside where Tails was standing, trying to make it look like he hadn't just been listening in.  
"Um... Amy, are you sure it's wise to go without Sonic..." Tails began, but was rudely cut off.  
"We don't need that lazy bum anyway! Douglas could handle himself fine without Sonic when he grabbed the emerald from RoBUTTnik, this should be a walk in the park for him! Come on!" Amy grabbed Tails' wrist with her own hand, practically dragging the poor kitsune up the stairs.

"You Sonic, you comin' with us?" Douglas said, stepping out onto the balcony, not having heard what Amy said during the conversation.  
"Naw, doesn't sound like my scene..." Sonic shrugged any regret off.  
"Well, your loss bud. We'll be in the Silver Valley anyway, I'm sure you'll find it, since it ain't that far away..."  
"Whatever man..."  
Douglas turned back to step back into the house, but stopped just as he was about to leave the balcony. "Piece of advice Sonic: Don't go breakin' people's hearts, 'else you'll find yours broken worse..."

Sonic blinked confused as Douglas closed the glass doors behind him, leaving the Hedgehog to his own thoughts, which Sonic instantly tried to ignore, like many bad memories he had.

"There you are Douglas!" Amy said, still angry at Sonic. "When are we getting out of here?"  
"But how are going to get there Douglas?" Tails asked, finally freeing his wrist from Amy's painful grip.  
"Now that's a question... Tanaka took the car out to deliver Chuck to his weekly snooze-fest, and there's no way you could fly the Tornado there without being spotted..."  
"That man did seem a little strict..." Tails said, his ears dropping a little.  
"Can't you drive Douglas?" Amy butted in.  
"Yeah, I can drive, but you need a car to drive. I don't have one."  
"Why not?"  
"Never needed one, always caught 'planes and trains to get to places where I wres..."  
"Trains?" Tails asked.  
"Yeah, there's a rail network all over the country, as well as a local tram system..."  
"Trams?"  
"Yeah... Hey... I think there's a tramline that goes right to Silver Valley!"  
"Really? Could we use that?"  
"I guess so, but how will you two be able to...?"  
"Don't worry about that Doug! I've got a plan that might just work...

* * *

'Oh yes, this is an awesome plan of yours Tails...' Douglas thought, as he shifted his gaze to avoid the stares of parents, children, and everyone else in the tram carriage. It had been like this ever since he'd gotten on with his two 'stuffed animal' toys, which were both sat on either side of him, as he had a large picnic basket resting on his lap. 'This is gonna do hell to my reputation...'

"Wow mom! Look at those! Aren't they cute?" He heard a little girl call out.  
"Isn't he a bit old for those kind of toys?" A parent asked.  
"Aww... Those toys would make a cute couple!" A different little girl said.  
"That guy looks familiar..." Another voice said, at which point a sweat drop formed on Douglas' head. It was one thing to spend almost fifteen minutes on a wooden bench in a bright red tram moving through the countryside, wearing a black leather jeans and jacket and a KoRn T-shirt, with a straw picnic hamper on his lap, but to have an oversized orangey-yellow two-tailed fox on his left and a similarly sized pink hedgehog in a red dress was ever worse.

"This is extremely uncool..." Douglas whispered under his breath.  
"Relax Douglas, we're doing the hard work..." Tails said similarly, but trying not make his mouth move.  
"Shut up, you'll break our cover!" Douglas replied, looking around the carriage again, hoping the ride would be over soon.  
"Um... What do I do if I have to blink?" Amy asked in a similarly quiet voice, but suddenly her thoughts were taken up by a sudden pulling on her ear. A small toddler had grabbed a hold of her ear, and was pulling it roughly.  
"Mom! Mom, can I get one of these? Can I? Can I Mom? This one's really cute, and we could have tea parties together, and all my friends can come' round and see it, and they'd be sooooo jealous! Please? Can, can I get one Mom? Can I? Can I?"  
'Stupid brat!' Amy thought, reaching boiling point from the little girls' annoying voice and pulling. 'It's not enough to touch my and probably mess up my hair, but only MY SONIC can call me cute!' The look in her eyes darkens through the pain, anger seeping through.  
"And then there can be a hold wedding with flowers and cake and dresses and dancing and..."

Before the girl could finish, Amy brought her boot back, and in a powerful kick, pushed the girl off her ear and the seat next to her, sending her smashing into the door of the driver's compartment. The girl's mother stood up in alarm, having ignored her before, upon hearing the little girl cry her eyes out from the shock and pain of what had just happened. Amy smiled, as everyone in the cab's attention was drawn away from Douglas and his 'toys', which allowed both herself and Tails the chance to blink.

'How could anyone be so annoying?' Amy thought to herself.

Douglas was less than pleased, slapping his head into his face, and dragging the hand down over his facial features. 'Why is it always my life that's the most messed up?' He thought, shaking his head, as the tram continued onto its destination.

* * *

Sonic blinked. He blinked again. He'd just stepped through the doorway into what he thought would be a regular room. Instead, it was like the room he thought he entered, but it was instead coloured black and white. Like an old movie picture, or a forgotten memory.

"Nice of you to turn up, Sonic!" Sonic was greeted by a pissed-off sounding female voice that came from an hedgehog standing in the middle of the room, who, unlike the surroundings, was in full colour, standing out.  
"...What do you mean?" Sonic replied in his usual cocky style.  
"You know exactly what I mean Sonic!" The female snapped back, her foot tapping off the floor in annoyance.  
"I have nooooo idea what you're talkin' about..."  
"Don't play around with me mister! I know you well enough to know when you're running around just to annoy people!"  
"Is it that obvious?"  
"...Yes, it is..."

"Chill people!" A third hedgehog's voice intervened, this time male, as he stepped between the argument. "Sonic's here isn't he?"  
"...That doesn't change the fact that..." the female began again.  
"Relax! What is it that you're getting so worked up about anyway?" Sonic said, carefree as usual  
"I think you know what it is man..." the male said, a little sadder than the cool tone he had used before.

"...Oh no..." The carefree tone had vanished from Sonic's vocal speech.  
"I'm sorry Sonic, but you know there's no real way out of it..." the male said, moving forward to place a hand on the blue hedgehog's shoulder. "...I guess it's just part of what we are now. You're the hero, and that makes you perfect material for..."  
"I am not an it!" Sonic said, shoving the hand off his shoulder. "And further more, I am not going through with this!"  
"WHAT?" The other two said together, or in unison.  
"You heard! I ain't doing it!"  
"Sonic, ain't ain't a word..." the female told Sonic off, but he was too angry to let it register.  
"But man, you've got to be responsible now we've got all this family honour to uphold! We all do! We're in this together..."  
"You aren't the one getting married here..."  
Thegreen male was silenced. There was no reply to that one.  
"...But that doesn't mean you won't get along..."

Sonic shot the female a death glare. "How can YOU say that? I always thought you, out of the three of us, was the smartest of the family! You've changed since Mom came back; you've changed a lot! You used to make fun of your title, but now you hold onto it like it's the only thing you have!" Sonic then turned to the male. "Even you, you've changed as well..."  
"You think it's been easy? The way I was brought up, the stuff I've been through, to suddenly live a life like this? I don't like this anymore than you do man, but it's not like before... I mean... We haven't even jammed together for ages..."

A sickly silence filled the room, as the three let the truth sink in.

"...You're right." The female broke the silence. "We forgotten who were are, by being what we're supposed to be."  
"But is it too late?" Sonic said, his usual cool exterior braking. "I mean, it's scheduled to happen in..."  
"Don't think like that Bro!" The other male interrupted. "It's never too late, especially for someone with you're speed..."

Sonic smiled a little at this, but his mind was drowning in worry  
"Sonic... I'm afraid the only real option here is..." The female's voice trailed off  
"What do you mean?"  
"...I hate to say this Sonic, but... You're going to have to..."  
"What?" "

* * *

Sonic's eyes fluttered open, readjusting to the daylight. 

'Urgh... Another bad dream... Bad memories... I need another run...' Sonic said, trying to get the images from his dream out of his mind. He had been resting on the railing, with his hands behind his head and resting against the wall, while his legs were stretched out on the rail, one foot pointing up at the sky above. Sonic yawned, before his attention was taken by a strange sound from above him. It sounded like a strange jet engine. Sonic looked up, and saw a very weird sight. What appeared to be a small, black creature with red boots, white gloves, and yellow eyes was dropping out of the sky with a green bag over its shoulder. The bag had the word 'EGG' printed on it.

'What the Mobius...' Sonic thought, as the creature landed on the railing Sonic was on. The blue hedgehog watched curiously as the creature opened up the bag, and pulled out a yellow television from inside it. 'How the... that TV looks bigger than the bag...'

The creature laughed as it took the monitor and placed it on Sonic's foot, so it rested perfectly. "I'll just put this here..." The creature said in a high-pitched, child-like voice as it adjusted the position of it. "...There you go! There's a message for you! Look!" It said, pressing the on button of the TV.

Instantly, a very close up picture of the very angry looking eyes of Knuckles the Echidna appeared.

"Sonic!" Knuckles started saying, in a voice plainly full of emotion from the TV. "I know what you're up to hedgehog, and this time you've gone too far! I'm sick and tired of all this, so we'll settle this today! I'm calling you out, one-on-one! You know what I think of you, so if you have any guts or honour at all, you'll show up. Meet me at 12 O'clock, exactly, in Silver Valley. I'd suggest you show up, if you dare..."  
'What's Knucklehead's problem now?' Sonic thought, not noticing that the creature that had delivered the message had backed off.  
"This message was brought to you by the Eggman Empire..." Knuckles continued, which snapped Sonic's attention right back to the screen. "...Which is not responsible for its content... Expect for this..."

Before Sonic could react, the television started short-circuiting from within, and exploded right in the face of the Blue Blur. Sonic was left coughing in the smoke from the explosion as he heard the high-pitched laughing from the creature fly up into the sky. When the smoke cleared, Sonic was left covered in a brown dust from head to toe, looking more like a common hedgehog than his normal blue self.  
"...I hope he realises... This means war..." Sonic said, his eyes narrowing.

* * *

"You know, this picnic wasn't a bad idea after all! Tails said, smiling at the contents of the picnic hamper were spread all over the blue white material of the picnic blanket.  
"Yeah, no one puts up a spread quite like Ella, just as well I said I was going here to meet a girlfriend..." Douglas added, looking out at the beautiful shimmering lake of the Silver Valley Reserve Park. Around them, there were high cliff-faces, tall trees and forests, and the backdrop of a huge snow-capped mountain.  
"Sigh... It's so romantic..." Amy said, gazing at the view. "I do wish Sonic was here to see it... It would be just perfect..."  
"Naw, he wouldn't have stayed still during the tram ride. Besides! It's a nice change to being cooped up in the house all day, even if we don't find that emerald..." Douglas added, taking a bite out of a ham and cheese sandwich.  
"Shouldn't there be a lot of people if a Chaos Emerald was found?" Tails said, finishing off a tomato salad sandwich.  
"Dunno... Maybe it's not around here, or something else caught their attention..."  
"Like what?" Amy asked, still thinking about Sonic, looking up at the mountain, and therefore not noticing the bubbles rising to the surface of the water of the lake.  
"Well, maybe the army showed up, or Sonic, or one of Eggman's robots..."

Suddenly, a great rush of water burst out of the lake, causing the two furries and human to look up in shock and horror. Amy and Tails screamed out, clinging onto Douglas.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF JEBUS?" Douglas shouted, staring at the sight before him. A towering purple robot, with two huge metallic arms with scoops on the end, a clear belly with showed the inside chamber of the machine, and what looked to be several small turrets just underneath the belly. This had to be an Eggman robot. The robot then raised up one of its huge arms, the scoop at the end aimed right at the group below

"LEG IT!" Douglas shouted, scooping up the picnic in this blanket and trying to run away from the machine, but found himself slowed down by the two furries clinging to his legs. Before any of them knew what was going on, the scoop came down inches in front of them, scooping them, along with a sizeable amount of earth, upwards. The whole world seemed to tumble around for a moment, and before Douglas could regain his sense of direction, he found himself falling downwards. He hit a cold, metal floor hard, knocking the wind out of him, which was not helped by a combination of picnic, soil, fox and hedgehog also falling on him.

Douglas groaned, feeling his back and stomach, as he shook the dirt out of his hair. Looking around him, Tails and Amy were in a similarly disorientated state, but it didn't take them long to figure out where they were. They were inside the machine. Douglas hammered a closed fist against the clear glass. It was no use, it was tougher than bulletproof, not that Douglas cared at that moment.

"That won't do you any good lad!" A sinister sounding voice came from above. Looking up, Douglas saw the lowering craft that was the typical mode of transport for one Doctor Ivo Robotnik.  
"EGGMAN!" Amy and Tails said collectively, and together.  
"Well, look what I've caught today!" Eggman replied, mockingly.  
"You're after the Chaos Emerald as well!" Douglas called out through the glass.  
"Aha! My plan tricked you all just as I suspected!"  
"...Plan?"  
"You see my boy, those 'disruptions' you heard about in the news story were created by me! I sent out some simple electronic destabilizers to interfere with the frequencies of the equipment in this area, and people, being the fickle things they are, assumed it was connected with the Chaos Emerald! I just manipulated mass media like it's supposed to, it's not my fault they barked up the wrong tree!" Eggman concluded, smugly.

"...Are humans always this gullible?" Tails said, looking up at Douglas.  
"...I DON'T SEE YOU NOT BEING TRAPPED PROWER!" Douglas shouted back, sending Tails tumbling backwards in fright.  
"Don't worry boys, allow women's intuition to get us out of here!" Amy said, holding her Piko-Piko hammer in her hand. Amy then began violently hammering into the glass with it, in a vain attempt to break out. After about twenty seconds furious hammering, Amy, let the hammer drop out of her hands, as she fell back tired.  
"What the hell kind of women are you to have intuition like that?" Douglas said, raising his arms up in disgust.  
"Save it!" Eggman called down. "Just sit tight, you'll be able to watch the show fine from down there..."  
"What show?" Douglas called back  
"Why, the main event of course!" Eggman said, before looking over his shoulder. Douglas looked to where Eggman was looking, and saw what looked to be a red hedgehog-like figure sitting, arms crossed, on a rock on a high up cliff.

"Huh? Knuckles?" Tails said, taking a good look at what Douglas was looking at. "What's he doing here?"  
'Never mind that fox-boy!' Eggman thought. 'You three just keep to yourselves... I'll need a plan B in case Knuckles fails me again...'

* * *

Flip Card 1 – Mr. Tanaka

Full Real Name: Undisclosed  
Nickname(s): Tanaka, Mr. Robot-o  
Gender: Male  
Likes: Karate lesions, serving Master Thorndyke, doing his job well  
Dislikes: Insolence, silliness, harm coming to the Thorndyke family  
Identifying features: Tall, wears complete butler's suit with tie, wears glasses, does not seem to have a sense of humour

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Ella

Full Real Name: To quote: "Is unnecessary for people to call me other than Ella, since it is much more friendlier!"  
Nickname(s): Ella  
Gender: Female  
Likes: Cooking, cleaning, helping  
Dislikes: Untidiness, an unbalanced diet, people keeping to themselves  
Identifying features: Wears bright blue maids outfit with white apron, often seen either cleaning or cooking for the Thorndyke family

* * *

Part 2

'Where is he...?' Knuckles thought, his eyes closed as he meditated, preparing for the upcoming battle. '...That hedgehog... Always taking liberties... Of my trust... Of Tails' friendship... That warrior human he's staying with... Amy's heart...' Knuckles cringed slightly at that thought.  
'No Knuckles, focus... Such emotions do not sidetrack the guardian... You have already been through this... She has a childish desire for the hedgehog, one that has lasted for years... Why am I even thinking about her? My purpose is the Master Emerald! The Floating Island!'  
'...Yet... Why does my heart... Tell me otherwise? What is this feeling? Do I... Feel sorry for Amy? Or is it... Perhaps her desire for Sonic is on a level similar as my desire to protect the Master?'  
'...Such strange feelings... No, it does not matter. You only had to protect her until she reunited with Sonic. Why should she care about...? NO! Focus Knuckles, this is not the time! You have been away from the Master for too long! These emotions are not common on the Island...  
'...I must return there... Before I forget my purpose... My destiny...'  
'...My isolation...'

Knuckles eyes snapped open. He sensed him. The hedgehog was near. And late again. Sure enough, not more than ten seconds had passed since Knuckles brought himself out of meditation when a blue hedgehog suddenly slid in front of him, taking up an infuriatingly arrogant side-on pose, with his eyes closed.

"Hey Knuckle-Head! It's been a while since you dropped out, what's been eating you?"  
Knuckles stood up, ignoring the pleasantries. "For such a 'fast' hedgehog, you always seem to show up late. I said be here at twelve!"  
"Tsk tsk Knuckles..." Sonic ignored the comment. In fact, Sonic hadn't even opened his eyes yet, or turned his head towards the echidna. "We are touchy today... Besides..." Sonic continued, raising his left arm up, so that the flower held in his left hand was lifted up to his nose.  
"This place is kinda nice, you shouldtry having a picnic here... Mmm... Smells devine... Makes life worth living, don't you think?"  
"Not living in this world..." Knuckles sneered  
"Lighten up Knuckz, you need some lessons in cooling off partner..."  
"I've never been your partner hedgehog!" Knuckles spat out, clenching his fists. "Enough of this talk! I challenged you, and I expect an answer!"  
"Oh, so you were serious?" Sonic said, almost uncaring. "Well, before I answer you, perhaps you could enlighten me as to why you're being oh so hostile?"  
"WHY?" Knuckles roared, now becoming aggravated with the pointless chitchat. "It's because you that we're stuck here, and that I'm away from the Master Emerald!"  
"Oh, it's about your emerald again, is it?"

"You wouldn't know anything about honour and duty hedgehog! You always run away from your problems!"  
"Oh Knuckles, you can be so harsh..."  
"You run from your friends..."  
"...So short-tempered..."  
"...You run from those who love you..."  
"...So impatient..."  
"...You even ran away from your own family!"  
"...So... What did you say?"

"Yes, I know about you hedgehog, what you did..."  
"This has nothing to do with my family, and you know it!"  
Knuckles smirked. He'd managed to hit a nerve in Sonic, and didn't care that it was rather a cheap shot. "That's on no consequence, you run around acting like a hero, when you can't even defeat your own demons."  
This time's Sonic's fist were being clenched. "Take that back Knuckles!"  
"Why should I? It's the truth! You ran from your family 'cause there was a problem you couldn't handle!"  
"How could I have dealt with that at the age I was?"  
"A real man would have stuck it out, unlike you!"

Sonic let the flower drop from his hand, floating slowly to the ground. Sonic's foot then sharply came down upon it, before he twisted the tip of his foot, grinding the flower into the ground. The silence that followed couldn't have been cut with a chainsaw. Both furries, eyes narrowed, fists clenched, feet ready, their whole bodies posed for action. They stared deep into each other's eyes, waiting for the other to blink, to make a move.

"...If I win, you hand over the Chaos Emerald you've got..." Knuckles broke the silence.  
"...And if I win, you take back what you've said, and have to stay with the rest of us..."  
"...Maybe I'll admit that you're the better man..."  
"...Perhaps..."

Another deafening silence followed, as their eyes locked again. For both, this was a chance to silence the other, to lay to rest the problems that the other had for their opponent, to settle scores made many moons ago. This was go time; this was the time for blood, sweat, tears, and pain.

They both lunged towards each other with lightning reflexes, drawing a fist back in preparation. Approaching one another, they launched an attack. Sonic swiped, but the blow was blocked by Knuckles' hand. They landed, swivelled on the spot, and faced each other again. Knuckles had no intention of hitting Sonic at this point; he was feeling his opponent out, testing his moves.

They both launched at each other again, but Knuckles stopped a few feet before Sonic. The blue hedgehog launched his fist again, which the Guardian caught. Grasping Sonic's arm, Knuckles twisted his body around, so that Sonic saw the red back of the echidna, before being pulled arm first over his shoulder to the ground, in a judo-like move. Sonic sprang up again, but Knuckles had already leaped back, anticipating the recovery, but with the intent of following up the attack. Knuckles leapt, allowing his natural gliding ability to home in towards Sonic. Sonic managed to jump over the echidna, and land a safe distance away. Knuckles planted his feet on the ground, and turned around, this time running towards Sonic.

Knuckles unleashed a fury of rapid right and left hands, aiming to knock his blue opponent senseless. Sonic dodged backwards with every blow thrown, leaving the spiked fists only hitting thin air.

Knuckles brought his right fist back, allowing the left to continue throwing punches, but wit such speed and movement that it was hard to tell if there were two fists or not.

The split second Sonic realised this was just in time to perform a back flip to avoid the right hand smashing downwards into the ground, and to land safely onto a higher up cliff. Looking down, Sonic still saw the burning hatred in the purple eyes of the red echidna. Looking up, Knuckles saw the confident cockiness of the blue hedgehog.

Wasting no time, Knuckles used the dusty ground of the cliff he was on as a run-up, as he picked up speed, before taking off upwards towards his opponent. Knuckles again pulled back his right fist, aiming for the hedgehog. Sonic easily saw the move coming, and took of high into the air, leaving Knuckles gliding underneath him. Sonic spun around in a ball mid-air, homing in on Knuckles. The crimson echidna brought himself out of his glide just in time to see the hedgehog aim a Flying Kick towards his body. Knuckles twisted his body, performing a cartwheel that had no problem in avoiding the attack.

Sonic landed on the ground, but had to lower his head to avoid a spinning roundhouse kick targeted for his skull. From his crouched position, Sonic stuck his own leg out and spun himself around, with the intent of taking his opponent with a leg-sweep, but Knuckles jumped over it. The two regained their vertical bases. Knuckles threw another punch, which Sonic dodged. Sonic threw a punch of his own, which Knuckles sidestepped.

Then at the same time, both of the battling furries jumped up from the ground, and attempted a dropkick on the other, but only resulted in them hitting each other's boots, before hitting the ground safely, leaving only a distance of 6 feet between them. Neither moved, silently impressed, and concerned, with how well the other fought, but also how well the opponent knew what the attacker's next move would be.

Knuckles launched himself again, unleashing another flurry of rights and lefts, leaving Sonic left to play defensive mode to avoid taking punishment.

This time Knuckles was not so willing to let up, so Sonic found himself relying on instincts to tell him what was behind him. Sonic had to avoid trees, rocks, stumps, and... Sonic felt something else, something worrying.

He heard water. A quick dive to the side, leaving Knuckles still moving forward, allowed Sonic to fully take in the sight. A large pool, with a cascading waterfall supplying the, to Sonic, deadly water. Knuckles must have checked the area out before hand to force Sonic over here, knowing Sonic's weakness of water, and Knuckles' skill in it. There was little time to mentally commend Knuckles' preparation for this fight, as Knuckles was back again on the aggressive side, lunging in with an uppercut towards Sonic.

The blue hedgehog took a risk, jumping onto a rock poking out of the water, before moving over to another as Knuckles charged towards him, using the stones as a makeshift path across the liquid of Sonic's nightmares. Knuckles had no problems exposing such weaknesses, as he changed path, hitting the rock Sonic was standing on instead of the hedgehog himself. Caught slightly off guard, Sonic made a dive towards dry land, barely making it onto the opposite bank. Getting up quickly, Sonic shot a death glare towards Knuckles, who had no problem returning the look with equal feeling.

Sonic took off, now on his element, running into a forest of trees, leaving Knuckles trailing behind him. The sounds of branches snapping, leaves being crumpled, and the intakes of breath were the audio signs of the chase as they battled unseen in the wood.

On the other side, a blue blur suddenly took off up the tall cliff behind the wood, followed by a red blur. Sonic had built up plenty of speed through the wood to tear up the rock with his natural abilities, while Knuckles used his natural gifts to easily climb up the cliff. Sonic allowed his often over confident side to take over for a second, as he smugly looked over his shoulder at the chasing echidna, a look which only infuriated him further.

Turning around, Sonic continued upwards onto the bark of a tree placed perfectly on the edge of the cliff-face, allowing the hedgehog to climb up it as well, before Sonic eventually came to a stop on the very top of it.

"OH! What a great view!" Sonic called out, putting on a ballerina like pose on one foot, extend his leg back a raising a hand to above his eyes, taking in the sight around him.  
"Doug was right! It was nearly my loss not coming here..."

Sonic's enjoyment was shattered by the sudden violent shaking of the tree he was on, followed by it tilting forward, over the side of the cliff with no safe ground to land on. Below, Knuckles used his guardian strength to completely uproot the tree, lifting it over his own head.

"VIEW THIS!" Knuckles roared, before pulling his arms forward, tilting the whole tree forward, and whipping the hedgehog off the perch on top into the forest.

Knuckles watched as the blue form of his nemesis flew over the treetops and into the wood. Knuckles knew that would not be enough, Sonic would be able to land safely.

Charging forward, the native of the Floating Island began hammering his fists into the trees before him, sending them crashing down into the wood before him. Tree after tree, trunk after trunk, branch after branch fell into the wood itself, as Knuckles cleared a path of destruction into the forest, intent on harming the fleeing opponent.

At the uncleared end of the path, Sonic was having no problem outrunning the crashing trees, which allowed him to plot out his next move. He saw an already chopped down tree, which had fallen into a medium-sized drop in the ground. Sonic smirked, as he grinded down the bark of the fallen lumber. Behind him, one of the falling timbers fell onto the other end of the tree Sonic had grinded, which had a see-saw effect of tossing Sonic back into the air. Sonic's smirk turned into a look of determination, as he pulled himself in tightly to his own body, forming the familiar ball shape that was prelude to his infamous attacks.

Spinning in the air, Sonic saw the chance he was looking for, and ripped down a tree, which Knuckles had just newly punched down. Knuckles looked up, and was able just in time to bring his powerful hands and arms up as Sonic drove into him with a Sonic Spin Attack, a less powerful version of the Spin Dash Attack, but one which did not require a Power Ring to use, and was powerful enough in a fight like this.

Despite Knuckles' superior strength, the momentum built up by Sonic was enough to counteract the attempts of the red echidna to force him backwards so far that both of the duelling furries were sent through a the original tree trunk that Knuckles had pulled up, and tumbling down the rocky side below. The two became locked in a grappling tussle, with each one trying to get an advantage over the other, while gradually rumbling back towards the water pool...

**SPLASH!**

Sonic's fear over came him as both he and Knuckles fell into the water. Sonic broke free from Knuckles' grip and began flailing his arms around madly.

"ARGH! WATER! GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT!" Sonic screamed out, the desperation in his voice clear for anyone around to here. "HELP ME, PLEASE! HELP ME!"  
"Get up you pathetic hedgehog! The water's only three inches deep!"

Sonic stopped, as a sweat-drop formed out of embarrassment on his head. Indeed, Sonic was sitting in a three-inches of water. Apparently, Sonic's fear had over estimated the depth of the pool and the size of the waterfall.  
"...Ah... Just as well I fell in the kiddie-pool then!" Sonic said, laughing uneasily, stepping out of the water and back onto dry land, before taking up a battle pose.  
"All right Knuckles, I've had enough of going easy on you! Now it's time to take you down."

Knuckles stood, his arms crossed over his chest, unaffected by Sonic's threat after his show of his fear of shallow depths of water. "...Let me know when you get your water-wings, so I can buy you a spine next time I go shopping." Knuckles said, entering into his own battle pose

* * *

. 

Meanwhile, while the battle had been raging on, Eggman was idly watching Knuckles do his dirty work for him. "That's it Knuckles... Show Sonic just who's boss... Then Chaos Emerald will be all mine!" Eggman smiled, watching Knuckles avoid a flying kick.

While inside the machine, Douglas was tucking into one of the sandwiches not covered in dirt, while Amy watched the battle, and Tails seemed to be interested in the workings of the machine they were trapped in.  
"Those guys sure know how to fight, huh?" Douglas said, after finishing another mouthful.  
"It's been like this for years, Knuckles has been jealous of Sonic ever since they first met..." Tails replied, still looking at the machine. "...I'm not sure if it's Sonic's freedom he dislikes, or if it's his attitude, but there's always been conflict between them, although Sonic would really like the two of them to be friends."  
"Really?" Douglas sounded surprised. "From what I see, they don't seem that friendly towards each other..."

"It's only because that Knuckles is always so gullible to believe what Eggman tells him!" Amy added, as she watched the battle continue.  
'Oh Knuckles... Why are you always like this?" Amy thought to herself. 'Why can't you and Sonic just get along with each other? You could be such good friends...'  
'That's not the real reason you don't want them to fight, is it Amy?' Another voice in Amy's head butted in.  
'Huh? What do you mean?'  
'You know what I mean Amy Rose, you don't want either Sonic OR Knuckles to get hurt, do you?'  
'Well, of course I do! I don't want my friends to get hurt at all!'  
'Since when was Sonic just a friend?'  
'HUH? NO! I mean... I...'  
'You've been thinking about Knuckles a lot recently, ever since you two spent those days stuck underground together...'  
'It didn't mean anything! Knuckles was to focused about getting back to his...'  
'Not even when Knuckles saved you?'  
'He was just being polite!'  
'When he told you he was wrong?'  
'Just being a gentleman!'  
'When you blushed when you looked into his eyes?'  
'... I... I was...'  
'You're confused, aren't you Amy? This guy you know nothing about, but has so much desire for what he believes in, he mystifies you, just like Sonic used to do...'  
'I only love Sonic, he's my hero!'  
'He doesn't love you though, you know that!'  
'That's lies, he... He... Someday he'll...'  
'Don't deny it Amy, you're getting torn between the two of them, because they seem to bet the opposite of the other... You'd better watch yourself Amy, you might have to choose between them if you get too attached to Knuckles...'  
'Wha... What? Too attached? Why would, why would I get attached to Knuckles? Why, I mean... I...'  
'...Why not?'  
'...Because... Um...'

"There, got it!" Tails said, triumphant.  
"Huh? What ya got Tails?" Douglas said, getting up.  
"I just managed to find this panel which lets you into the wiring of this robot, I just unscrewed it open with my screwdriver here..." Tails said, holding up the tool in question.  
"Damn kid, you're just full of smarts, huh?"  
"Aw, it was nothing really." Tails said, rubbing his nose while smiling. "Now..." Tails turned his attention back to the working he had just uncovered. "If I can just find the right wire to..."  
"I've had enough of this!" Amy said, raising her hammer up above her head out of frustration from the conflicting thoughts in her head. "I'll get us out of here!"  
"AMY NO!" Tails said, holding up a hand towards the angry hedgehog, but it was too late, as Amy brought the hammer crashing down into the 'pillar' like centre of the machine, causing sparks of electricity to fly out of it as it began short-circuiting.

**KA-BLAM!**

A thunderous explosion ripped through the belly of the machine, smashing the tough glass, leaving only a thick cloud of smoke pouring out from it. Eggman looked around in horror at his robot.  
"NO! What are you doing to my wonderful creation you psychotic kids?"

* * *

Back on the shore, the explosion had caught the attention of both Sonic and Knuckles.  
"What was that?" Sonic said, looking towards the smoke coming up from near the edge of the lake.  
Knuckles stood silent, looking out at it. 'I told Eggman I would need no back-up, so what is he up to?' He thought.

Squinting carefully, he made out a large purple round-shaped thing, and a something small and egg-shaped floating around it... Egg-shaped?  
'Eggman!' Sonic reasoned. 'I should've guessed why Knuckles said his message was from Eggman, he's been tricked into fighting me!'  
"We'll settle this another time buddy!" Sonic said, before racing around the shore towards the robot.  
"Huh? GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" Knuckles roared, before chasing after Sonic again.  
"I'll rain check you on that one..." Sonic said over his shoulder, now heading towards the source of the smoke.

* * *

Tails, Amy and Douglas spluttered as the smoke began to settle around them. The smoke had been so bad; Eggman had ordered his machine back onto land for safety. He needed his hostages alive.  
"ANY MORE BRIGHT IDEAS MISS SHERLOCK?" Douglas shouted at Amy. "We're still trapped because this bloody hole isn't big enough, and now I'm gonna have one hell of a laundry bill!"  
"I thought Ella did all the..." Tails began.  
"THAT'S NOT THE FRIGGIN' POINT YA BUNCH OF PYROMANIACS!"  
"What have you done to my beautiful machine you insolent fools?" Eggman said, lowering his Egg-Pod.  
"Stick a pipe in it Egg-Face! I'm not in the mood!" Douglas snapped back.  
"WHAT? You dare disrespect the great Doctor...

Suddenly, a great blue blur raced in front of Eggman's robot, before doubling back and racing past the legs of the machine. A second past, before the black, rubbery looking support that connected the lower part of the robot's right leg to the top part exploded in a burst of flames, followed by the other leg's support, which cause the robot to fall over backwards accompanied by the cries of the people trapped in side.

'Oh oh...' Eggman thought.

Douglas pulled himself up, and peered out the hole again. He smiled at seeing the blue hedgehog known as Sonic looking back.  
"Hey Doug! You sure know how to throw a picnic!" Sonic called up.  
"Well, you know, things happen nowadays." Douglas replied, shrugging his shoulders in a sarcastic way.  
"Don't be too sure of your victory yet Sonic!" Eggman called down. "E-47! Commence Operation B!"

At its master's command, the purple machine retracted in its metal arms, turning the scoops into feet, as it hydraulically pulled itself up from the ground, once again causing the prisoners in its belly to call out in alarm as it flipped its whole central 'stomach' area upside down, even turning the antenna-like rods over into itself. Sonic looked up at the sight of the towering robot, as suddenly shutters closed over the yellow lights that were now on its lower part, and a large green sensor eye in a black casing appeared out of new top of the robot.

"Destroy that pesky rodent!" Eggman called out, which made E-47 turn its turrets down towards the hedgehog. They fired without warning, leaving Sonic to jump back out of the way from the laser bullet fire. Sonic dived for cover behind a large rock, hearing a barrage of bullets pepper into the other side of the stone. The fire stopped, and Sonic looked behind him. The rock had been destroyed. Sonic then barely managed to escape another onslaught of bullets as the turrets started again.

"ENOUGH!" The voice of Knuckles roared, as he suddenly came over the heads of the people below, knocking out one of the turrets with a hard kick.  
"WHAT?" Eggman called, seeing Knuckles land on his feet after the attack, which had caused the robot to stop its attack.  
"Eggman! This battle is between Sonic and me alone! I will win by myself, with no interference!" Knuckles said, pointing directly at the Doctor in question. Sonic was simply glad to get a little rest from the bullets, so just shrugged his shoulders at the whole thing.  
"You promised me you would defeat Sonic, but here he is still standing, and you still want to play fair? You have let me down again Knuckles! Thankfully for you, I have a Plan C to use! E-47, initiate Operation C!"

With that, the new legs of the purple machine flamed up, as booster rocket carried it high and across the lake, to the other side, drowning out the sounds of distress from within. Knuckles and Sonic looked on in amazement at the speed of the manoeuvre, as it landed on the other side.

"Do you see that Sonic? I have your friends captured and held hostage, and I demand a ransom of your Chaos Emerald in exchange for their safe return!" Eggman threatened, pointing over to E-47.  
"But... Eggman..." Knuckles began, "You said... You changed your ways..."  
"I guess he lied then!" Sonic said, smirking as Knuckles was figuring out what was going on.  
"... So... This means that..." Knuckles' expression hardened, as he clenched his fists again. "...That... I was..."  
"You got it buddy!" Sonic answered, smiling.  
"Ahem, hello? Genius scientist holding for friends hostage here!" Eggman said, drawing attention back to himself. "Can't you see that the situation is hopeless? I have your friends all the way over there..." He pointed over to his creation again. "... Across all that water, your greatest fear and weakness! Just hand over the emerald now Sonic, before it's too late!"

"Wow Eggman, it sure looks like that you've got me this time..." Sonic smirked. In a flash Sonic was away, and moving around the lake to where E-47 was standing. Eggman looked in horror as Sonic reached his machine, before spinning into the legs of it again, sending it tumbling to the ground again.  
"...Damn it!" Was all Eggman could finds to sum up the situation.

"Oh yeah, now the bloody holes isbig enough!" Douglas said, scraping the dirt of his shoulders with his hand, as Sonic helped both Tails and Amy out.  
"SONIKKU!" Amy said, leaping onto Sonic and wrapping both her arms around Sonic's neck, gripping him in a hug.  
"Ach! Amy! Get..." Sonic was about to finish telling Amy to let go of the hold of him, when Sonic noticed this hug wasn't a tight as the usual ones she gave him.  
'Maybe she's really shook-up?' Sonic reasoned.  
"Hey Amy, you alright?" Sonic inquired.  
"Why, of course Sonic, why wouldn't I...?"

Amy was interrupted by a rumbling sound. The four turned around, to see the Eggman robot shaking, and the sounds of motor engines re-starting coming from deep within.

"That thing never bleedin' dies!" Douglas called out, before turning around and turning tail.  
"Huh? Where are you going?" Tails called out, seeing Douglas running for cover.  
"It's called running for your damn life, THAT'S WHAT!"

The machine starting rising up again, at which point the furries decided to follow Douglas' example. The machine regained its balance, standing up, as Eggman moved his Egg-Pod closer to the action.  
"I guess I'll just finish the job myself! E-47! ACTIVATE ANSLAUGHT MODE!" The Doctor roared.

With that command, the yellow plated panels above the glass belly opened up, revealing rows of missiles, and within a flash, missiles and laser bullets bombarded the surrounding area in a frenzied all-out final attack. Eggman's atrocious laughter could not be heard from the thunderous explosions that were hitting the trees and stones around the park, causing mass destruction to the woodland area.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GONNA DO?" Douglas called out over the noise.  
"I DON'T KNOW, LET ME THINK OF SOMETHING!" Sonic shouted back.  
"IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING, THIS WHOLE PARK WILL GET DESTROYED!" Tails added in, peering slightly over the top of the huge rocks they were taking safety behind.

A white fist suddenly broke through the ground next to them, and the red form of Knuckles climbed out from the hole. He had just tunnelled underground, and moved beside the others.

"KNUCKLES!" Amy said, grabbing onto the echidna in a deadly hug.  
"GAH! GET OFF ME!"  
"OH, SORRY KNUCKLES!"  
"WHAT'S GOING ON NOW?"  
"EGGMAN'S LOST IT! CAN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?"

Knuckles looked into Amy's green eyes, which seemed to shine from the sunlight even though there was a look of desperation in them. In that moment to Knuckles, they looked strangely... Strangely like... The Master Emerald...  
'My purpose...' Knuckles thought, 'My purpose... To protect...'

Without another word, Knuckles was over the top of the rock and charging towards the raging robot. With senses heightened, blood pumping, and adrenaline flowing, Knuckles was ready to take on anything. Missile crashed down into the ground beside him and behind him, he didn't flitch. The bullets peppered directly at him, in a blink of an eye Knuckles was out of the way. The frenzied attack could not hit the controlled and perfected technique of the Guardian. Before the machine could react in time, Knuckles was already at its base, hammering his fists into it's iron and steel body as he climbed up it, smashing the legs, the glass, the turrets, before leaping off its head up into the air, and coming face to face with Eggman.

"...Oh, hello Knuckles!" Eggman put on a fake grin, trying to butter Knuckles up.  
"No one, lies, TO ME!" Knuckles shouted out, before slamming his fist into the Egg-Pod, sending it hurtling far into the sky, and out of sight, where it seemed to turn into a strange star.

Knuckles was now suspended in mid air, partially due to his natural dreadlocks catching the air, which allowed him to look downward at the robot below.  
'It is time... To end this madness...' Knuckles concluded in his mind, drawing a fist up the sky, before pulling it harshly downwards along with his body, smashing deep into the E-47 robot.

"Oh man, he didn't just do... What I think he... Did he?" Douglas said, peering over the top of the rock  
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out in alarm, as a large crack formed in the robot, splitting it into two parts, but only for a short moment, as bright sparks of electricity coming out of the crack signified doom for the robot, as it suddenly exploded in a huge shower of nuts, bolts, wires and smoke.  
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Douglas called out again, ducking under.  
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out again, as the force of the explosion created a gust effect powerful enough to keep the furries and Throndyke trapped down.

Sensing the danger, Sonic leapt out from the cover and put pedal to the metal, racing forward in an attempt to locate the echidna. The echidna in question was knocked silly from being in the heart of the explosion, and was being hurtled through the air in a shower of metallic parts. He had no idea what was happening, or what was going on, but he did feel the tight grip of someone's hand on his wrist. That someone was Sonic, who was holding onto a tree-branch with all his might, not wanting to let go of the echidna that had just saved himself and his friends. Knuckles opened his eyes, and saw the look of determination on the blue hedgehog. Still unsure of what was happening, Knuckles knew out of instinct what to do - he pulled his other arm up and grabbed Sonic's wrist with his other hand.

* * *

Sonic and Knuckles dropped down to the ground, Sonic a little more solidly than Knuckles, after the wind had died down. Looking around, they saw the still smoking wreckage of the Eggman robot. The battle had been won. Not the original battle, but a battle all the same.

"...I believe..." Knuckles began, feeling very weak since his attack on E-47 had taken a lot out of him "...I owe you... An apology Sonic..." Knuckles then extended his hand to the Hedgehog, who shook it without hesitation.  
"Don't sweat it! Just as long as we're friends now, right?"  
"...Yeah... Friends..."  
"Sonic! Are you alright?" Tails ran up, with Douglas and Amy close behind.  
"Heh! No problem for me and Knuckz here, right?"

**THUMP!**

"...Knuckz?"  
"KNUCKLES!" Amy called out in alarm again; Knuckles had just collapsed to the ground. Amy quickly ran over, and held Knuckles' head in her arms, supporting it.  
"We need to get you home man!" Sonic said, kneeling down beside Knuckles.  
"I... Feel fine... Just a slight... Miscalculation..."  
"Hang on guys..." Douglas said, dialling a number on his mobile 'phone. "...Hello? Mr. Tanaka? Is Chuck back? Oh he is! Great, can you put him on? Okay... Hello? Yeah Chuck, it's me, Douglas. Listen, I need some help here..." Douglas carried on talking, with Tails and Sonic following him, leaving Amy holding Knuckles.  
"Hey Knuckles..." Amy said, softly. "...Thanks."

Knuckles smiled weakly back. "No... Problem Amy. Anytime..."

Amy smiled back. Looking into each other's eyes, there was something strangely unexplainable... Something entrancing, which meant neither, could look away. Before Amy knew what she was really doing, she lifted up Knuckles' head bit more, and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Knuckles sighed, before drifting off into a deep, and peaceful sleep, with a smile on his face. Amy smiled again, gently stroking the dreadlocks on the echidna's head. From afar, Sonic looked back at the scene, confused.

'Since when were those two that close?' He thought to himself.

The young fox next to him though, had a look of what could easily be described as envy, as he watched Amyhold the Echidna.  
'From Sonic to HIM?' He thought. 'What about me?'

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview – Voiceover by Douglas

"It's finally time for my debut on SSC's prime-time show, Square Off! But Eggman decides he wants to use our show to build himself up, so he sends a robot wrestler in! To make things worse, my stepparents are in town, so what if they see Sonic? And who's that women dressed up ready for war?"

"Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: '**Grappling with Iron**'! Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author notes: Oh yeah! Hurry through the unwritten chapters, I don't mind late updates or any typos! Ahem, sorry, got carried away with this one, since it took my so damn long to write it all. Seriosly, I spent about over ten hours in one sitting while working on this episode, nearly killed me. But I did it all for you people. I rule. Onward now to repond to reviewers. 

_Fuwa2 Kyara_ - I do have Mighty tied in to appear in Sonic eXcluded, but not directly with the Chaotix in Ep 39... Wait and see... As for Ray, I'm not aware of him enough to put him in.  
_Shady Fetish_ - The bit with Chris was sad but nessicary in describing why Douglas is like that.  
_DragonessFei_ - For the first saga (Whole New World or what ever they called it) will follow the storyline, but apart from the SA, SA2 and Chaotix episodes, it all goes mad as I adapt everything!

What do you think huh? What's going on with Amy and Knuckles huh? What was that dream of Sonic's about, huh? Why can't I find good information about the characters to put in the Flip Cards, huh? What was Tails thinking about at the end, huh? HUH? DO YOU KNOW? OF COURSE YOU DON'T, ONLY I DO! Ahem... Please stay tuned for the next episode...

_N.B. Edited on 20-11-04 for paragraphing and editing.  
Edited 01/05/05 for removal of lyrics_


	6. Grappling with Iron

**Sonic **_e_**X**_cluded_

Airo no own Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X or any other associated characters; Airo own Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke.

* * *

Intro:

The hedgehog stood, looking down on the large crowd, a look of determination on his face unlike any other. Today, he was not the hero of the Freedom Fighters. He was not the liberator of Mobius. Nor was he the Royal Prince of the Hedgehog family. Today, he was Sonic.

"You're absolutely sure you're going through with this?" A female voice asked from behind him.  
"Yes." Sonic replied without question.  
"I'm with you Bro." A male voice stated.

Sonic turned 'round, and smiled at his two siblings. "Thanks guys. Just remember not to steal to the Crown Jewels Manic, and try not to spend all your time shopping Sonia. I'm gonna miss you."  
"We'll catch up again sometime man!" Manic replied.  
"I know, but I don't know how long it'll be before..."

"PRINCE SONIC ZE 'EDGEHOG!" A heavy French accent shouted up to the hedgehogs. "ZIS IS ANTOINE D'COOLETTE OF ZE ROYAL PALACE GUARD OF ACORN! YOU ARE TO BE GIVING YOURSELF UP TO ACCEPT ZE ROYAL DUTY AT ONCE!"

Sonic looked back down, and pointed at the Frenchman. "NEVER!" Sonic shouted, before jumping off the ledge he was on and curling up into a ball shape.

"Look out! He iz attacking!" Antoine shouted, diving out of the way of Sonic's charge.

Sonic bounced off the guards and officers, using the thick amour on each like bumpers on a pinball table, knocking down one after the other as they tried in vain to stop the hedgehog. Suddenly, a sharp ringing of keyboard notes sounded out, backed by a heavy drumbeat. Blasts of bright laser energy fired down from the building Sonic had jumped off, as the surrounding area began to shake.

Unsteadied, the Acorn troops were disorientated and thrown to the ground.

"STOP SONIC! HE IZ ESCAPING!" Antoine called again, but all he was doing now was stating the obvious, as only a trail of smoke showed any sign of Sonic's escape.

Sonic rushed through the forest. He knew it would not be far or long for him to escape. He knew this place like the back of his hand. That would not be the hardest part of this plan though. It would be the aftermath.

'It's gonna be a long few months...' Sonic thought to himself. 'I didn't think I'd have to leave my family so soon after getting them back together...'

Another short few minutes passed as Sonic jumped over fallen tree trunks, through shrubs and bushes, and over the untamed grass. He knew where he was, and he knew the edge of the forest was near. So was the end of this chapter in his life.

He charged past another tall tree, and found himself running across a grassy landscape. He had passed through the Great Forest. He was free, but only from the confines of the forest, Knothole and Robotropolis.

As happy as he was to be away from there, tears streamed down the hedgehog's face. He would never forget why he had to leave his happiness and family behind.

Sally Acorn.

* * *

"Yo Sonic?" Douglas said, shaking the hedgehog a little. "Time to wake up dude!"  
"Uhh... Wha?" Sonic said sleepily, coming back to reality.  
"You told me to wake you up before breakfast remember?" The human stated.  
"Oh yeah, thanks." Sonic replied, sitting up from his makeshift bed of cushions and blankets.  
"You okay? Chuck said that you were tossing and turning all night."  
"Yeah, I'm cool. Just a really bad dream..."

* * *

Amy Rose was gazing out the window, sighing. It had been over two months since she'd seen or heard anything from her blue hero. It was getting lonely, not seeing him. 

'Where could he have gone?' She thought, looking up at the cloudless sky.

**KNOCK-KNOCK!**

Amy turned around to look at the door into her apartment, where the sound of someone knocking had been heard from.  
'I wonder who that is?' Amy thought, she hadn't been expecting anyone over today.

Amy opened the door, and was surprised to see none other than the blue-blur himself, Sonic the hedgehog.

"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed happily.  
"Hey Amy, do you mind if I come in?" Sonic asked with a smile.  
"Uhh, sure yeah!" Amy said, motioning for Sonic to come in.  
"Thanks, I've been meaning to ask you something for a while..."  
Amy was confused. "Ask what?"

Sonic looked at the pink hedgehog with a serious expression on his face. "How much do you love me Amy?"  
Amy was lost for words. "I... I..."

Sonic moved in closer to her, letting a hand of his lightly run through her pink quills. Amy shivered at the touch, feeling weak at the knees. This couldn't be happening, could it?

Before Amy could say anything, Sonic placed his hands around her waist, and kissed her. Amy's eyes closed as she melted into the blue hedgehog's touch, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Her dreams were coming true all at once! She was being kissed by her one true love! The kiss seemed to linger forever; Amy didn't want it to stop. Slowly, she opened her eyes to remind herself that she wasn't dreaming, and that this was real.

Amy was then understandably shocked to find she was kissing Knuckles. In reflex, she broke the kiss, stepping away from the echidna.

"What's the matter Amy?" Knuckles asked, confused by Amy's actions. "Don't you love me?"  
"I... I..."  
"Then who do you love Amy? Who?" Another voice asked. It wasn't Sonic's, it wasn't Knuckles.

It was the sound of her heart.

But Amy could not answer, because it was at this point that she woke up.

* * *

Cream sighed, resting her head in both her hands. She gazed, almost dreamily, at the slumbering fox. 

'Mister Tails is so peaceful when he sleeps...' The young rabbit thought to herself, as Cheese slept comfortably in her lap. 'I wonder what he's dreaming of...'

Cream was watching Tails so much; she didn't notice Amy waking up from a confusing dream.

* * *

"Okay, okay... Come on Miles, you can do this..." Tails said, speaking to his reflection in the mirror. "Just remain calm... Relax... Oh god I'm gonna mess this up..." 

Tails walked away from the glass, quickly, his head sloped so he looked at the ground. But the twin-tailed fox stopped himself, turning around on one foot and walking back to stand in front of the mirror.

"Come on!" Tails ordered himself. "What's wrong with you? You've been through tougher than this! This should be a breeze! Now come on, let's try this again..."

Tails coughed, straightening himself out and pulling his fingers lightly through his hair to fix any loose strands. Checking over himself once more, he looked at his reflection, before putting a smile on his face.

"...Hey! How are you today? No wait, that can't work... Um... Hey! I haven't seen you since... No, that's a lie, we met yesterday... Uh... Hey, I was wondering, you know that we've been friends for a long time, right?"

Tails paused, looking inquisitively at himself, before smiling again.

"Yeah... That's a good start... That's the one!"

Tails turned and practically skipped over to the table by the window, and carefully picked up the bouquet of pink carnations, loving held in purple wrapping.

'Well, I guess today is finally the day...' The fox thought to himself. 'Today I ask Amy Rose for a date.'

* * *

Cream sighed, still watching the fox, not noticing Amy coming up behind her. 

"Hey Cream." The pink hedgehog whispered into the rabbit's ear.

Shocked, Cream gasped, looking around to the source of the voice.

"Miss Amy!" Cream said, before placing her hands over her mouth, realising she had been talking too loudly. "Uh, what are you doing?" Cream asked, in a whisper.  
"That's what I should be asking you Cream." Amy replied, with a knowing smile on her face. "How long have you been looking at Tails like that?"  
"I... Um..." Cream blushed, finding the floor rather interesting right now.  
"You like him, huh?"

"...Yes." Cream said, still looking down.

"Awww!" Amy smiled broadly. "That's great!"  
"Re...Really?" Cream looked at the hedgehog, a sort of pleading look on her face.  
"Of course! Loving someone is the greatest feeling ever! Just like I am with..." Amy trailed off, the memory of her weird dream creeping back in.  
"Thank you Miss Amy, I was worried what people might say."  
"Why's that?"  
"The first time I saw Mr. Tails, I felt this weird thing coming over me, and I didn't know what it was..."

Cream sighed, looking back to the sleeping fox.  
"But I know now it's what my Mom calls love..."

Amy smiled at the love struck rabbit.  
'This was what it was like for me when I first saw Sonic...' Amy thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door into Chuck's lab opening, and a blue hedgehog entering.

"Hey Sonic." Amy greeted him.  
"Hey Ames." Sonic replied, with his trademark grin. "What's happening?"  
"I just woke up, to something interesting..." Amy pointed to Cream.  
"Huh?" Sonic didn't understand.

Amy noticed this, and walked over to him, and whispered into his ear.

"...Ohhh!" Sonic said, his smile fading.  
Amy giggled. "This is great, huh?"

'Yeah, just great...' Sonic thought. 'The little guy wants to be just like me, and he might get an equivalent to Amy as well. I'd better have a talk with him sometime...'

All the while, Tails was peacefully sleeping, happy in a dream. One where he held a bunch of pink flowers.

* * *

**Episode 6 – Grappling with Iron**

**

* * *

**

Part 1:

"...Yeah, you heard me, that's the exact amount I'm offering..." Douglas said, resting his feet on the little table in front of the soda he was lounging on. "...Nah, trust me, this 'trust fund' ain't doin' nothin' just sittin' in a bank, and there's only so much space in my den and here for stuff ya know... Yeah, I know it's a lot of cash, but trust me; I got money to burn. Privileges of 'being' a Thorndyke, ya know. Anyway, just spread the word. One real, fully working one gets twenty thousand bucks. Not a cent less. Get the news out, and don't forget that 4GOT10's national debut happens tonight... Wrestling you moron! Not my fault the press keeps biting my ass! ... Yeah, S.S.C. Square Off, tonight... All right, I'll check ya man. Peace."

Douglas hung up his 'phone and sighed.

'That god that's over! Sometimes having so many brothers on your side can be a bad thing...' Douglas thought, referring to the hour worth of 'phone calls he had just made to cities across the country. 'At least I don't have to pay the bill. Hmmm... Got an hour to go before I hit the gym...'

"Ahem..."

Douglas' purple hair swung around in the air a little as he looked at the doorway. The Thorndyke Residence's butler, Mr. Tanaka, was standing with a telephone in his hand.

"Your stepfather has requested that I inform you that he and your stepmother will be stopping by this afternoon. They are both intending to stay for the night at the minimum."  
"Huh?" Douglas was both apprehensive and interested by this news. "It's not my birthday or a national holiday... Why would they...?"  
"One would assume Master Douglas that it is in celebration of your appearance on television tonight."

'I don't get thrown a party when my face gets plastered all over the newspapers.' Douglas thought to himself.  
"I guess you're right, it's just that I didn't expect them to be around, since..." Douglas trailed off, a thought striking him.  
"Since what Sir?" Tanaka inquired.

'Since there's more chance of Sonic being found here!' Douglas thought to himself.  
"Since they're just so busy and everything, that's all." Douglas lied. "I think I'd better tell Chuck about this." He stated, standing up and walking casually towards the door to the outside.

Tanaka leaned his head over a little, and caught a glimpse of Douglas running as fast as he could towards Chuck's lab.

'Perhaps Ella was correct, something may be happening that Master Chuck and Master Douglas are not informing us about.'

* * *

"That's about it guys, you'll just have to stick around here a while..." Douglas addressed the furries in the room. 

Sonic, Amy, and Tails were tucking into a lunch of take-away fast food, chilidogs naturally for the blue hedgehog, while Chuck sat in front of the S.H.I.T. (Douglas had personally demanded that the name remain like that, despite Tails' disapproval) tucking into a more healthier dish expertly made by Ella. Cream and Cheese were dining on a fresh, crisp salad, sticking by what Cream's mother had said was a proper diet.

"...So I'm countin' on you guys to lay low until my stepparents head off to their world.  
"No problem Douglas." Amy said after finishing a mouthful.  
"You can count on us." Tails added, looking up at the purple-haired human.  
"I knew I could count on you guys, but I know that this will be hard for some of you."

Douglas looked at Sonic, so seemed to be caring more about finishing off his chilidogs than what Douglas was saying. The adopted Thorndyke then looked to the figure standing in the corner of the room.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on going anywhere." Knuckles replied firmly, although it pained him to say so.

The echidna was standing, his arms folded across his chest, watching the rest of the room with a look full of the emotions of a large boulder. His head was partly bandaged, the remains of the battle against Eggman in Silver Valley. Around his waist, covering the rib area, were some more bandages, and there were some slight bruises still healing on the guardian's legs.

"You shouldn't be moving around so much Knuckles." Chuck pointed a fork at the red echidna.  
"Do you think it's appropriate to be drinking wine at lunchtime?" Knuckles responded.

Out of reflex, Chuck grabbed a hold of the bottle of wine that was by his plate with one hand, while dropping the fork and picking up the half-empty glass of wine with the other.

"Chuck! I thought you promised you weren't gonna do that anymore!" Douglas said, in a singsong mockery of a tone of voice.

The retired inventor grumbled something under his breath, finishing off the glass.

A door closing was heard from downstairs, grabbing Douglas' attention.

"Mr. Sonic just left..." Cream stated, in her usual polite, quiet voice.

Douglas' eyes narrowed, as he looked out the window as saw a blue blur take off into the distance.  
'That son of a... I swear, one of these days I'm gonna sock him one if he keeps acting like this!' He thought to himself, the fingers of his right hand curling together into a fist, reacting to the thoughts of the wrestler.

"Just out of interest, does that guy have a problem with simple requests or something?" Douglas asked the occupants of the room he had his back to, still looking out the window.

"Sonic just enjoys his freedom." Tails answered, talking to Douglas' back.  
"Yeah, ever since the war ended." Amy added.

Douglas blinked, and he turned around.

"What war?" Both he and Chuck asked.  
"Guess you guys decided to skip that part of Sonic's life story huh?" Knuckles directed to the other furries.

They responded by looking down to the wooden floor of the lab.

"Don't worry, I'll fill you in on the details later." Knuckles said to the Thorndykes in the room.  
"...Okay..." Douglas said, thinking over what had and had not been said. "Well, I'd better get going, I'm gonna hit the gym before the show tonight, so I probably won't be back until after it's finished..."  
"But you'll miss your parents arriving Mr. Douglas." Cream stated.

'Exactly.' Douglas responded in his mind.  
"Yeah, but I wanna look good tonight, first appearances usually mean everything in this business. Well, I'll catch you all later, so take care, okay?" Douglas said, walking towards the exit hatch.  
"See you later Douglas." Chuck said.

"Oh, before I forget!" Douglas said, still walking, but looking over his shoulder. "The show starts at seven, and I probably won't be on 'till after AHHHH!"

Douglas saying 'AHHHH!' in a shocked-sounding voice was different from the rest of what he had just said for good reason. People tend to say things differently when sudden, unexpected things happen, such as not looking where you are going and falling down the stairs. As he had just done.

Everyone in the room gasped, apart from Knuckles, who looked ready to leap out and go after Douglas (although his body really wasn't) as they heard an painful sounding combination of thuds and yelps of pain, followed by an almighty crash of a body into some empty boxes down stairs.

A silence followed, where no one dared to move.

"I AM INVINCIBLE!" Douglas shouted back up, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"You sure Douglas?" Chuck shouted back down.  
" 'Tis but a scratch!"  
"You lie!"  
"I've had worse! Now I'd better get out of here, before any more cardboard boxes have to be used up to break my falls..."

"Mr. Douglas must be happy that his parents are coming to visit." Cream said, breaking the silence that followed.  
"...Yes." Chuck lied, but none of the furries could tell, apart from one. "He is."  
"Douglas hasn't really talked about them much though." Tails pointed out.  
"What do they do?" Amy asked.

Chuck smiled a little, relaxing his grip on the wine bottle. "Douglas' stepfather is the President of a huge computer software company."

As Chuck spoke, he could imagine Nelson Thorndyke sitting behind his desk, clad in a dullish yellow business suit with a light blue shirt, and a dark blue tie. Chuck saw him reading through another progress report for the latest computer processor chip, while at the same time listening to a breakdown of the current stock market situation from a voice in his mobile telephone.

"He spends most of his time in the office, or around the world on business trips." Chuck continued.  
"What about his mom?" Amy continued.  
Chuck's smile seemed to grow larger. "She's a star."

Chuck imagined her now. Lindsay Fair, posing for a photo shoot on the set of her latest movie. Wearing a delicate pink raincoat, with a yellow scarf around her neck, and just the bottom of her medium-length white skirt, which matched her large whit sun-hat. She smiled, glancing from one photographer's camera lens to the other, a perfect smile on her face.

"A famous actress who jets all around the world making movies."  
"Wow... It must be hard for Douglas not to have his parents around..." Tails said, letting the details Chuck had just told the furries sink in.  
"...Yes, it is."  
"He must miss them." Amy added.  
'Not as much as you'd think.' Chuck replied, but only in his own mind, as he turned back to his meal.

As the animals returned to their lunch, Knuckles returned to his position in the corner, leaning against the walls with his shoulders. The guardian closed his eyes in thought.

'Douglas has foster parents...' Knuckles mused in his mind. 'That does not explain the ill feeling in the air when Chuck talked about them. There is something here that is being kept secret. But perhaps that is for the best. Family issues are a touchy subject. Sonic is an example of that...'

* * *

"No, no, NO! This will never do!" Eggman admonished his two servant robots, although they had not done anything wrong. "I've got to think of something!" 

For almost the whole day since sunrise, Eggman had been turning his command chair erratically, trying to come up with a new scheme that would allow him to conquer this world. Needless to say, he had failed.

"GAHH!" Eggman slammed his fist down onto the armrest of his chair. "My robots fail to defeat that hedgehog, and the pitiful inhabitants of this place will not surrender to my will! What will it take to..."

The Doctor's rant was interrupted by the large monitor of his control consol suddenly flashing into life, and showing the image of two news reporters behind a large desk with the words 'SSTV NEWS' written on the front.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, a special report by our very own Scarlet Garcia." One of the newscasters said, before the scene changed to that of an overhead shot of a large mansion.

"This is the residence of the Thorndyke family, one of the most famous names in the whole world. But more recently, it has been the focus of media attention for a very different reason." A female voice stated, belong to Miss Garcia.  
"For behind the security gates and fences, there lies something that has baffled almost every sane mind in the world. The supersonic hedgehog known as Sonic."

The picture cut to police helicopter footage of Sonic running down a highway road.  
"To show you a glimpse of the hedgehog, we have had to slow this footage down to ten thousandth of its original length. It's no surprise then, that this 'creature' outran the 'Speed King', if rumours are to be believed. But what is the connection between the Thorndykes and the sudden appearance of these talking, unnatural beasts?"

The next series of images were close-ups of the Tornado in flight, with Tails in the pilot seat, and Douglas (in 4GOT10 costume) in the passenger.

"The man you see in the back seat is Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke. The adopted, and troubled, son of Nelson and Lindsay Thorndyke. An underground hero for wrestling, especially in 'dangerous' and 'extreme' gimmick matches, not much has been known about his past, save for the tragic details of the death of Christopher Thorndyke. So why would someone, who kept to himself as much as he has done, suddenly, and in this reporter's mind, without explanation, help potentially dangerous animals?"

The next image was that of Douglas and Eggman struggling for the Chaos Emerald in the sky.  
"But it seems that no matter how much bad press is put out about 'Sonic', the recent battles with the dangerous Doctor Eggman have put some people's minds at ease. But what are these strange 'Chaos Emeralds' that have been causing such havoc with machinery in Station Square and the Silver Valley area? What dark secrets do these gemstones hold?"

Still pictures of traffic jams, electrical appliances malfunctioning, and the broken pieces of Eggman's E-47 robot were then shown.

"It has been rumoured that a reward of twenty thousand dollars is being offered for a genuine Chaos Emerald, by Douglas Thorndyke himself. Although this reporter has been unable to contact the Thorndyke residence directly, or otherwise, to gain confirmation of this."

A still photograph of Douglas Smicktor walking out of the S.S.C. Arena was then shown.  
"But is all this attention just a clever ploy by Station Squared Circle, one of the world's premier wrestling federations, to attract hype to the debut of '4GOT10', Douglas' wrestling character, tonight? That remains to be seen. But whatever the reason, Mr. Smicktor will not be able to hide the truth, however strange it may be, from this city any more. This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting for..."

Eggman cut her closing statement off by pressing a button on his chair to switch the television feed off.

'Interesting...' Eggman thought. 'This Douglas character seems to becoming more and more of a threat to my plans, especially if he's offering a reward for the emeralds... Perhaps he is the target I should be focusing on...'

The Doctor smiled, getting out of his chair. "Boys, I'm going to be in the planning room, do not disturb me for a full hour!"

* * *

When you only have one chance to make a lasting impression, in a business where you've either got it or you haven't, it's more than a good idea to be as prepared and as focused as possible. It could be that audition for a big-break in a movie, or pitching your invention to a company for production, or the interview for the job of your dreams. 

Douglas considered his 'last-minute' workout right now to be the final 'preparation' before his big 'interview' on live TV tonight.

With a hard right hand, followed up by a left fist, Douglas hammered into the punch-bag. Although a regular at the Station Square Gym, he was attracting looks for the other people working out. Was it his connection with Sonic? Was it the fact he was debuting on TV? Or that he looked like he was training for the biggest championship match ever, rather than a simple appearance and 'run-in' on Square Off?

Not that Douglas really noticed, or cared. For him, tonight was his moment. All the years he'd slept rough, all the shit he'd been through, the isolation, the loss of the only person he'd cared about. Tonight was finally redemption for everything. To him, he had made. By God, he had made it!

"Attention please!" A voice called out over the P.A. system. "Will Mister Thorndyke please report to the front desk, I repeat, will Mister Thorndyke please report to the front desk, thank you."

Douglas slammed his fist hard into the punch-bag after the announcement had finished, mumbling something under his breath. Not because he had been interrupted, but by being referred to as a 'Thorndyke'. He sighed, grabbing the towel he'd put on a nearby chair, and wiped the sweat of his face. He placed the towel behind his neck, so that the ends rested past his shoulder and down his arms, before walking out of the gym, with his gym-bag in his hand.

"Telephone call from a Mister Tanaka for you." The receptionist said, holding out the telephone receiver to Douglas as he walked over to the front desk.

"Thanks." Douglas said, although he hardly meant it, taking the receiver. "Hello?" He said into the device.  
"Master Douglas, you're stepparents will be arriving at the Thorndyke residence in a few minutes." The ever-serious voice of Tanaka stated at the other end of the line.  
"A'ight." Douglas responded. "I'll be home after the show finishes tonight, which shouldn't be too late."  
"Of course. I will inform them upon arrival."  
"Sure, okay..." Douglas said, handing the 'phone back to the receptionist.

"Thank you Mister Thorndyke." The receptionist said. "By the way, you're gym session is over for the day."  
"Already? Well, how much is that..."  
"Oh? Didn't you hear?"  
"Hear what?"  
"A Mister Stuart insisted that all your gym costs be charged directly to the S.S.C.. from now on."

'Great, Mister Stalker is on my case again...' Douglas thought. 'At least it means I've got extra greens on me.'  
"Oh, I didn't know that." Douglas said.  
"That of course includes session time, equipment hire, meals, sauna sessions..."  
"Wait, wait. Did you say 'meals'?"  
"Of course, at the gym restaurant."

Douglas smiled. "I might just stick around then..."

The thought of a free meal was so appealing to Douglas, that he did not notice a piece of paper being slipped into his gym-bag.

* * *

The clear, midday sky over Station Square was almost cloudless, as the bright sun shined down onto the rooftops on the city. The city was nice and calm, the problems of attacking robots, speedy hedgehogs and strange emeralds the least of peoples' worries. At least for the moment. 

Just on the outskirts area of the city, was the place of the rich and famous. It was nicknamed 'Richsville', and just looking at it could tell you why. There were no houses there. Only mansions, estates, swimming pools, and tall hedges cut into the shape of exotic animals. Only the VERY very rich and famous resided here. So when there was a homecoming, it was one like no other.

The loud whirring sound of helicopter rotor blades filled the air, the combined noise from three aerial craft. The leading two were both military Hunter helicopters, complete with full arsenal of missiles and machine guns. They were acting as protective 'bodyguards' for the third. It was a rather less aggressive machine. A simple high-speed helicopter, painted bright white with a yellow under-belly and blue trim. The kind more suitable, as it was being used for in this case, for transporting people.

The convoy flew high over Station Square, making a direct route for 'Richsville' and one house in particular. The Thorndyke residence. Once safely over the house, the two Hunters broke off from formation, turning around and heading back in the direction they had come from, their mission complete.

The remaining helicopter stopped itself, hovering in the air as it rotated ninety degrees, manoeuvring over the large 'H' painted on the Helipad below. Once in the right position, the craft lowered itself slowly downwards, before landing comfortably on the Helipad.

'Behold the Extravagant Appearance of Mom and Dad.' Chuck thought to himself, watching the helicopter's rotor blades slow down from the doorway into the mansion. Mr. Tanaka and Ella were patiently awaiting the arrival of the Thorndykes on the patio beside the Helipad.

The moment the rotor blades came to a halt, the side door on the helicopter opened, and automatically a small flight of steps came down that led straight to the ground. Down these steps, two identically dressed bodyguards stepped out and stood at either side of the door. Looking around them, the two men searched for any visible threats of danger. Seeing none, the men then proceeded to help the other occupants of the helicopter out.

A lady with short blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a pinkish-red dress, red belt with a gold buckle, stepped out first, helped gentlemanly by the bodyguards. A taller man, with short brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a light cream suit and pants, a blue shirt, and a dark blue tie followed her.

Ella and Mr. Tanaka stepped forward.

"Welcome home!" The both said, bowing respectfully.  
"Thank you." The two Thorndykes replied.

Shaking his head at the formality of it all, Chuck moved forward.  
"Lindsay, Nelson."

"Good to see you Dad." Nelson Thorndyke replied.  
"How's everything here at home Father?" Lindsay Fair-Thorndyke asked.  
"Oh, everything's fine now you two are here!" Chuck joked, before turning back and heading back into the house.

"That reminds me." Nelson said, as he walked arm-in-arm with his wife behind Chuck. "What is the exact deal with Douglas on television tonight?" He questioned, walking into the mansion, followed by Ella, Tanaka, and two bodyguards struggling with the heavy luggage of Mrs. Thorndyke.

* * *

Not that far away from the Helipad, over at Chuck's lab, some furries were watching the events unfold with interest. Well, some of them were. 

"Wow..." Tails remarked. "Douglas' dad seems like a really nice guy.  
"His Mom is really pretty!" Amy also remarked.  
"Nice entrance, if you're into that kind of thing." Knuckles scoffed, unimpressed by the whole thing.  
"Oh hush you!" Amy said, pulling her head out from the window, and turning to look at the Guardian.

Knuckles just rolled his eyes at the pink hedgehog. "You seem to forget that Douglas doesn't seem too friendly towards his 'family', they are his stepparents after all."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy said, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.  
"You're too young to understand." Knuckles stated flatly.  
"We're not kids you know Knuckles." Tails said, also looking at the echidna. "We've been through a lot."

Knuckles nodded. That was certainly true of Tails.  
"Not to get into the details..." Knuckles started explaining. "Not every family has happy reunions, or happy stories for that matter."  
"Huh?" Amy didn't understand.  
"Douglas isn't a real Thorndyke remember, he was adopted into the family."  
"Yes, but that doesn't mean that Douglas hates his..."  
"Doesn't it?" Knuckles interrupted Amy. "Trust me, I've got a sense for this kind of stuff. I felt it around Sonic, and I don't think you a magnifying glass to see it around here."

Tails nodded in understanding. To him, it was another story of an unhappy family. Not the first, but he really hoped it was the last. Amy just sighed. She knew just how sad the history with Sonic's family mage her hedgehog feel.

"You don't have to be so cold about it Knuckles." Amy stated. "Don't you wish you had some family?"  
Knuckles snorted, looking away from the others. "I only have one desire - To protect the Master Emerald and the Floating Island."  
"Um, that's technically two desires..." Tails corrected Knuckles.

In reply, the Guardian grumbled something about 'being too clever'.

Amy sighed, grabbing the kitsune by the arm. "Come on Tails, this is supposed to be a happy time!"  
Tails offered no argument as Amy practically pulled him down the steps and out of Chuck's lab.

'Mental note: Keep away from The Pink One'. Knuckles thought, grateful to have a moment of peace. 'Nothing but trouble. Can't believe I'm using her as a Master Emerald replacement!'

Shrugging his shoulders, Knuckles tenderly (still feeling the effects from the Silver Valley battle) walked over to the window, and looked out.

"Hey Knuckz." Sonic greeted, still relaxing against the roof.  
"Don't call me that Hedgehog." Knuckles replied.  
"You're no fun man." Sonic smirked.  
"Sure, and you're a bundle of laughs yourself."  
"Well, since we're roomies, we might as well try and get along, right?"  
"...I guess so."

"So we're friends?"  
"I wouldn't go that far. We're on speaking terms, and that's about it."  
Sonic smiled. "I'd call that an improvement, wouldn't you?"  
A small smirk appeared briefly of the echidna's face, before vanishing. "I suppose so."

* * *

"_Lord Eggman has been very busy today." _The golden Decoe stated, looking at the large, reinforced door of Doctor Eggman's 'Creation Lab'.  
"_This is the first time I've seen him like this since we came to this strange world!"_ The silver Bocoe replied, also looking at the same door.  
"_I'm bored!"_ Bokkun rather pathetically stated, twiddling its robotic thumbs. _"I want Eggman to hurry up!"_

"_Quiet you!"_ Decoe told off the messenger machine. _"Lord Eggman will be creating another masterpiece!"  
_"_Unlike you!" Bocoe added.  
_"_Huh?" _Bokkun was taken aback. "_What ya mean 'Unlike you'?"  
_"_Oh, it's so difficult to carry around TVs and bombs, especially with something as fearsome looking as you!" Bocoe taunted._

"_That's rich coming from you fatty!" _Was Bokkun's high-pitched reply.  
"_WHAT? I am built almost on a par with the figure of the great Lord Eggman."  
_"_That's what these earthlings would call 'Bullshit'." Decoe stated.  
_"_What does that mean?" _Bokkun asked.  
"_I believe it's a crude term for a lie. I learned it from something called 'MTV'." _The golden robot explained.  
"_This planet is far too strange!" _Bocoe said, to which the other robots agreed.

Suddenly, the large doors slowly began sliding open, which instantly drew the robot's attention from their conversation.

"Come on in!" Eggman's voice called from within the room. "Behold the true power of a genius!"

The robots the walked into the large room, and looked around in awe. The walls were covered in diagrams, blueprints and plans for robots yet to be assembled. Hanging from cables on the roof, were large wielding tools, mechanical claws, engine parts, and partly assembled robots. There were many tables around the room, which had parts and the bare metallic bones of robots. At the sides of the room, completed robots stood lifeless, awaiting activation. They ranged from small box-shaped robots with workman hardhats and construction-site tools as weapons, to child-shaped robots with 'Eggs' written on their torso, and a large brown glove on their 'hand'.

"Over here!" Eggman stood proudly at the back of the room, next to a table. "Let me show you some things that you glorious creator has been up to."

The robots did as he ordered, moving next to the Doctor.

"Behold!" Eggman stated. "Not only am I a great creator, I am a fantastic modifier!"

The robots looked at the machine on the table.

"_It's incredible!" _Decoe complimented.  
"_A triumph for science!" _Bocoe complimented as well.  
"_I though this used to be a teacher?"_ Bokkun said, not really understanding. This caused the two other robots to fall over, legs in the air, with large sweat-drops on their heads.

"How observant of you Bokkun." Eggman smiled.  
"_HUH?" _Decoe Bocoe said together, looking up from the floor.  
"I forgot what its name used to be, something long and unspellable, but that's not important. Indeed, it used to resemble a teacher, complete with robe and hat; but I have thought of a better use for its intelligence."

The robot resembled a human form. It's arms were thick, with large spheres where elbows would be, and big black 'gloved' hands. Its upper-half was a thick red block of metal, adorned with strong bolts of steel. It's legs were rather less impressive looking, thin and roundish with no visible 'knee joints', instead just vertical columns of interlocking metal leading to flat, round 'pads' where feet would be. Its 'head' was a round, black circle sticking out of a light blue 'hood', almost like the windows of tropical submarines.

"I call it 'Grap-Lor'!" Eggman proudly stated. "And it is the weapon I need to weaken that blasted blue annoyance!"  
"_Weaken Sir?"_ Bocoe asked.

"Instead going to school, Grap-Lor will be taking Douglas Smicktor to 'school'. The school of hard knocks!" Eggman smiled broadly. "I will send Grap-Lor to this S.S.C.. 'Square-Off' show, where he will decimate all the other wrestlers! Eventually, that human friend of Sonic's will have to show u to make his publicized 'debut'. And when that happens..."

Eggman then pounded a clenched fist into his open palm. "Grap-Lor will make sure that '4GOT10' is truly a distant memory!"

Eggman then laughed proudly at his own plan, while the activated robots looked around uneasily around them.

"Once that problem is gone, I'll be able to concentrate on my other creations!"  
"_Other creations?" _Decoe asked.

"Why, just some projects, like 'E-100 Series', 'The Anti-Blur', and some of my father's unfinished projects..."

The robots shivered at the mention of Eggman's father.

"Oh yes, despite some of his faults, he was quite a genius, although too confident in some of his inventions... Stupid SWAT-bots..." Eggman grumbled. "That doesn't matter now, it'll be quite a while before it's ready..."  
"_Before what's ready?"_ Bokkun asked.

Eggman smiled. "Just a little something my father called 'The Death Egg'."

* * *

Flip Card 1 - Mr. Thorndyke

Full Real Name: Nelson Thorndyke.  
Nickname(s): Mr. Starship Soft  
Gender: Male  
Age: 43  
Likes: Computer software, business deals, strong share prices  
Dislikes: Computer viruses, consortiums, not knowing what his stepson is doing.  
Identifying features: Always dressed in a business suit, often attends business deals corporate meetings.

* * *

Flip Card 2 - Mrs Thorndyke

Full Real Name: Lindsay Fair- Thorndyke  
Nickname(s): The Fair Queen  
Gender: Female  
Age: 37  
Likes: Acting, shopping, awards ceremonies  
Dislikes: Bad weather for filming, unqualified supporting actors, not knowing what her stepson is doing.

* * *

Part 2:

The television screen was blank, only a black screen was shown.

"You haven't seen what I've seen..." A dark sounding version of Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke's voice said over the blank screen. "You haven't been where I have. You can pretend to know who I am, you can try and label me. But only I will judge me. If you learn nothing from me, just remember who I am."

Suddenly, a flash of images of a man screaming, huddling in a corner, and glaring evilly at the camera appeared, before the screen returned to black.

"I am... 4GOT10..."

The screen then changed to a bright opening video package of wrestling moves and wrestlers taunting and celebrating, over aggressive sounding rock music.

The video finished with 'STATION SQUARED CIRCLE presents: SQUARE OFF' in bold letters, before cutting to an indoors fireworks display in an arena with a wrestling ring set up in the middle. The arena was packed full of people cheering and holding up signs as the pyrotechnics went off.

"Is wrestling on this planet always like this?" Knuckles questioned, looking at the TV monitor in Chuck's lab.  
"Apparently, so Chuck says." Sonic replied. "Don't understand how it's so popular."  
"It's very complicated to explain." Tails said. "But it's pretty violent, I'm not sure that you should be watching this Cream."  
"Don't worry Mister Tails!" Cream said. "Mister Chuck said that no one gets hurt."  
"Chao-o!" Cheese added.

'That's really sweet of Tails, he's always so thoughtful.' Amy thought to herself. 'If only Sonic would care like that for me...'

"I guess we have to watch all of this show?" Knuckles asked.  
"We don't know exactly when Douglas is appearing, so I guess so." Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

* * *

They say that a man's eyes are the gateway to his soul. You can tell a lot about what a man is feeling, is thinking, and what he's about to do from looking into his eyes. 

It therefore isn't very helpful when the guy you're looking at has his eyes closed, and is listening to loud music in his headphones.

"I just don't get it." The wrestler by the name of 'TMG' stated to the female standing beside him. "He looks like a guy who's been doing this for years, not about to make his debut!"  
"Yeah..." The female, known in the military as Topaz, replied. "It's almost scary how he can block everything out."  
"Guess it doesn't help when there's all those 'animal' rumours about him going around."  
"Did he tell you anything about those, or how they started?"

"He denies it too much, you know? Gets all defensive, changes the subject. None of my business of course, but whatever shit the guy's in, he keeps it away from here. That's another good thing about him. When it's 'go-time', he's more focused than most of the guys here. Guess that's what he's doing now."  
"I suppose so..." Topaz agreed, watching Douglas carefully.

He was wearing black jeans, that had spray-painted words and symbols on them. In fact, most of his 'wrestler' clothing was black. His boots, his T-shirt, his hooded top. Only his gloves, which were brown leather, were different, apart from the purple spray-paint. The way he was sat on the folding chair, with his hood up, only the ends of his purple hair, his stubble-beard chin, and his nose showed from out of the hood. The rest of his face was either covered by his hair, or by the shadow cast by his hood.

Needless to say, it made '4GOT10' look dark and sinister, not to mention worrying. But that was due to the way he was mouthing along to the words of the music he was listening to, and nodding his head slightly to the beat.

"I'll tell you somethin' though..." TMG started talking about Douglas again. "He was spending a good time today reading some note."  
"Note?" Topaz was interested.  
"Yeah, he pulled it out of his gym-bag. Kept it to himself, says it was a reminder from his grandfather. But if you believe that, then you'll believe that Kennel in a Cell was a good idea."  
"Right..." Topaz said, the wrestling humour meaning nothing to her.

'I'll have to try and have a look at that note.' Topaz thought to herself. 'Could be useful...'

All conversations in the S.S.C. Arena then stopped, as an explosion rocked the building.

* * *

The arena was silenced, as was the action in the ring, as smoke billowed out of a newly-'made' side entrance of the arena. All eyes, and cameras, were looking at the smoke. 

From out of the smoke, a large, metallic figure burst out using the rocket-boosters on its 'feet'. With ease, it shot upwards, before straightening itself and landing in the ring.

"What the heck is that thing?" A thin masked wrestler in green asked, pointing at the robot.  
"I don't care!" His opponent, a man in red wrestling tights replied. "Just get him out of here!"  
"Hey, hey! Get out of the ring! You're not allowed in here!" The referee stated. "You're disrupting this match!"  
"Tsk, is that anyway to treat a wrester?" the robot replied, looking down displeased (although its black visor didn't show anything).

"...A wrestler?" The ref was confused to say the least.  
"A robotic wrestler!" The machine corrected. "My name is Grap-Lor, and this is my ring now!"  
"What? GET OUT OF HERE!" The referee pointed at the robot.

In reply, two angry looking red triangles, representing eyes, appeared in Grap-Lor's black visor.  
"That is the wrong answer!"

Before the ref could react, Grap-Lor grabbed him by his striped shirt, and roughly threw him over the top rope of the ring, and into the crowd of people, knocking over people in the process.

In an angry response to the action, the two human wrestlers attacked the machine together. However, the robot was able to withstand the assault, grabbing both wrestlers by the head, and knocking their skulls together. Dazed, the two wrestlers were quickly dispatched out of the ring.

Loud mocking laughter then rang out through the building, as the round figure of Doctor Eggman appeared in his EggPod through the gap where smoke had been.

* * *

"Eggman!" Sonic stated, watching the carnage unfold.  
"That's a really mean robot!" Cream stated.  
"Looks like Douglas isn't the only one debuting..." Knuckles offered as insight.  
"Douglas!" Amy said in horror. "He could be in trouble!" 

Eggman's laughed roared out loudly from the TV, as he looked down onto the ring from his EggPod.  
"Fools! You think you can stop me?" Eggman mocked. "I will prove to you all who the REAL master is around here!"

"He sounds like he means it!" Tails said. "This looks bad Sonic! Sonic?" The fox looked around for his blue idol, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess he's gone to the arena." Knuckles said.  
"Does Mr. Sonic know where it is?" Cream asked.

Tails, Amy and Knuckles then had identical sweat-drops on their heads in reply, realisation hitting them.

"...Chao..." Cheese stated sadly, which summed up the situation perfectly.

* * *

"This is bad, this is really, really bad!" Mr. Stuart stated, pushing the button on his wristwatch to reveal a secret radio-transmitter-receiver device fitted inside. After pulling up a small antenna to its full height, he then placed an earpiece into his ear. 

"Come in, over." Stuart said into this radio. "This is Chain-Wrestle-Charlie to Home Base over. We have a Code Red situation over at Ring Centre, over."  
"...Uh, copy that Charlie, over." A voice replied. "What is the nature of your situation, over?"  
"Doctor Eggman has launched an attack on the arena with some kind of robot wrestler, and is causing bodily damage to the wrestlers, referees and fans, over."

"Wait, you want us to send over land, sea AND air forces, because some robot is beating up your wrestlers?"  
"Copy, I can transmit my co-ordinates if you need them." Stuart replied.  
"Uh, hang on a second, over."

* * *

Douglas looked at the green-masked wrestler as if he was drunk.  
"A robot?"  
"Yeah man, a mean lookin' robot, plus, there's this really fat dude with a moustache flying around in some kind of..."  
"Eggman!" Douglas shouted in surprise. "Damn it! He would have to choose THIS night to try something!" 

"I guess this is the Eggman that's been attacking Station Square." TMG stated, stroking his brown beard.  
"I should call the police." Topaz stated. "That thing's already taken out most of the active roster!"  
Topaz ran off, leaving the men behind.

"Who the hell was she?" Douglas asked.  
"Some friend of Stuart's." TMG shrugged his shoulders.  
"What are we gonna do Tom?" The masked wrestler asked.  
"Staying out of the way would be a good idea." TMG replied, responding to his real name. "I'd like to defend this championship in one piece." He patted the large golden belt on his shoulder.

'To heck with that!' Douglas thought. 'This calls for action!'

* * *

"So you're saying that some evil robot has taken over Square-Off and is holding all the fans hostage?" A police officer asked, whilst biting into a cheeseburger. "Stay right there Miss and I'll be over in a jiff to investigate!" 

With that, the officer placed the receiver back onto the 'phone on the desk, with was covered in empty burger wrappers.

* * *

"What do you mean 'It's gonna be a problem', over?" Stuart responded to the voice on the other end of the radio transmission. 

"It's not that we don't understand your situation, over." The voice explained. "We're watching it right now. But you're quite a bit in land, so no sea forces, over. The arena is in amongst tall building, so air wouldn't be that useful, over. And with the kind of traffic Station Square has at this time of night..."

"GAHHH!" Stuart pulled out his earpiece in agitation, switching off the transmitter. "I guess I'll have to call in the local police force!"

Suddenly, the door to Stuart's office was flung open, and Topaz rushed in.  
"There you are!" Topaz stated. "I just called the local police, they'll be here any minute!"  
"Thank God!" Stuart replied. "Where's Douglas?"  
"I left him with your champion and some masked guy."  
"Better find him, he might be calling the hedgehog for back up."

* * *

Instead, Douglas was actually in his locker room, stuffing a gold Power Ring (one he had saved from grabbing the Chaos Emerald at the construction site) into his jean pocket.  
'I'll show this metal jobber whose king of the ring around here!' Douglas thought to himself. 

Douglas stopped what he was doing, feeling something in his other pocket.  
'That stupid piece of paper...' He thought, pulling it out and throwing it to the ground. 'Last thing I need right now...' He added mentally, before rushing out of the door.

The paper read:

'Strength comes from within, but also in numbers. Until you discover the true power of the former, do not be so cold to those close to you.'

* * *

"This would be a lot easier if I knew where I was going!" Sonic told himself, running down another street of Station Square. "Who knows what kind of trouble Eggman's up to..." Sonic then stopped, as a sound caught the attention of his ears. 

The police car's sirens went off loudly, and it's police lights flashed, as the officer drove towards the S.S.C. Arena.

'That's probably a good clue!' Sonic thought to himself, quickly catching up with the vehicle, and quietly landing on the roof. 'Not as fast as I'd like, but at least it'll take me to where I need to go.'

* * *

"Admittedly, this doesn't look too promising for Douglas's debut." Chuck said, watching rather disgustedly at the sight of the overweight Doctor parading around the ring, whilst beaten-up wrestlers crawled away from ringside as best they could. "He knows how to take care of himself anyway." 

The Thorndykes, Nelson, Lindsay and Chuck, were all in the living room watching the TV carefully.

"But what if there's an accident, and that horrible thing hurts our poor Douglas?" Lindsay asked.  
"I'm sure my security team would have contacted me to tell me." Nelson replied.  
"Perhaps it's been postponed because of this robot thing, and Douglas has just been too worried to remember about us..."  
"Nonsense Lindsay." Chuck said. "Douglas knows you're were coming to see him because of tonight."

Not too far away, Ella and Mr. Tanaka were in the kitchen.

"I do hope Douglas gets back soon!" Ella said, watching her pot of homemade soup carefully. "Dinner is almost ready!"  
"Perhaps I should go and collect Master Douglas." Tanaka thought out loud.  
"You know Douglas hates to be treated differently just because of the Thorndyke name!" Ella scolded the butler. "Besides, I'm sure Douglas is fine!"

Back in the living room, Mr. Thorndyke's calm persona was beginning to crack ever so slightly...

"I'M GOING TO LOOK FOR THE BOY!" He stated firmly, standing up from the seated position he was in on the couch.  
"Nelson, please." Lindsay looked up to her husband. "Have faith in your stepson."  
"Huh?" His wife's calming words brought Nelson partially back to his senses. "Yes, right. he's a level-headed boy, and I'm sure he'll be able to cope with this." He pointed to the TV screen, which showed Eggman addressing the crowd.

"Now do you all see the power of Dr. Eggman?" The Doctor asked the surrounding crowd, to which the fans responded with loud boos and jeers. "There is no one in ANY universe that can defeat my creations!"

"WE HAVE TO REMAIN CALM!" Nelson shouted out, looking at the ceiling whilst clenching his fists, almost as if trying to convince himself.

Chuck sighed. 'He hasn't changed since he was a boy.' He thought.

* * *

"Okay, everyone calm down!" The police officer said, biting into a cheeseburger.  
"About time!" Mr. Stuart said. "I'm the Chief of Staff here!"  
"What's going on here?" The officer asked.  
"That thing in the ring has taken out nearly all of my roster!" Stuart replied.  
"Not to mention a couple of referees!" Tom (aka TMG) added. 

"Okay, let's calm down a minute and... Hey, you're TMG!" The officer pointed at the S.S.C. Champion.  
"Well, yeah..."  
"Hey can I get an autograph for my kid?"

Upon hearing this, what could be a world record for the most anime-style face-falls occurred with everyone apart from the police officer falling over.

"CAN WE KEEP OUR HEADS TOGETHER FOR ONE MOMENT?" Stuart practically screamed in a girly voice.

Suddenly, Topaz ran up, clutching a piece of paper in her hand.

"Stuart! Smicktor isn't in his locker room, and no one I've spoken to knows where he is!"  
"Great, that's another problem..." Stuart rolled his eyes.  
"Hey, do you guys hear that?" TMG said, standing up.  
"Hear what Tom?" Another wrestler asked.  
"Listen..."

Indeed, coming from the sound system of the arena, some music was being played out.

"Wait... I recognise that..." Stuart said. "That's what Douglas wanted for his entrance theme... OH NO!"

* * *

"You might as well all accept that I am your new master!" Eggman stated, again ignoring the boos. 

Grap-Lor simply stood, it's arms folded across its chest, listening to its master.

"It's easy to understand, even for you simple people! I'm plotting my schemes wherever I go! They're perfect in every..."

Eggman was suddenly interrupted by the sound of marching footsteps playing through the sound-system of the arena.

Distracted by the music, Eggman and Grap-Lor looked towards the entrance ramp of the arena. Which allowed a wrestler to run out from the crowd armed with a steel folding chair, and jump the crowd barrier. The music was so loud, that no one in the ring noticed him, until the sound of the chair coming crashing into the back of the robot was heard.

**CRACK!**

The crowd roared loudly, the music stopping instantly, and Grap-Lor calling out in pain.

'WHY?' Grap-Lor thought. 'Why was I modified to feel pain?' This feeling only worsened as 4GOT10 continued to hammer into the robot's back with the folding chair.

"Huh? HUH?" 4GOT10 shouted at the robot. "You wanna ruin my show huh? You wanna step into my playground?

After a succession of harsh chair-shots, 4GOT10 threw the chair, now practically useless, into Eggman's EggPod, sending is spinning away from the ring area. 4GOT10 ignored the cheers from the crowd for his actions, and began stomping away at the floored robot of the canvas of the ring. He then stood back, and dropped to a stance in the middle of the ring. Kneeling on one knee, with his arms extended out from his body.

Eggman worriedly looked on at the scene. In all the modifications he had done to create Grap-Lor, he had overlooked the possibility that 4GOT10 wouldn't lay fair. Ironic, since Eggman rarely played fair at all.

'Two can play this game!' Eggman thought, pressing a button on his control pad.

4GOT10 waited for Grap-Lor to fully get up, watching the robot carefully as it struggled to return to a vertical position. He waiting to hit his finishing move, which he liked to call 'Amnesia'.

"_STOP THAT!"_ An angry high-pitched robot cried out, rushing towards the ring using its rocket pack.

4GOT10 stood up, and looked at the approaching robot, easily catching it in his left hand.

"_IDIOT! Let me go!" _Bokkun shouted, as Douglas easily held the machine.

Shrugging his shoulders, 4GOT10 pulled back his right hand, and then struck Bokkun. The robot screamed out in pain as it flew straight back through the gap it had come through, the force of 4GOT10's gloved fist enough to send it away.

Douglas smirked for a moment. Unfortunately, Eggman's distraction worked, and Grap-Lor knocked the human down from behind.

Two bright gold eyes appeared in the visor of Grap-Lor. It was pleased with itself.

Those eyes then turned to pail grey when 4GOT10 got straight back up, and threw his hood back. Revealing the red face paint under his eyes, and the look of utter hatred in his eyes.

Right on time, Sonic appeared, looking out of the large gap in the wall. He was just in time, to see 4GOT10 grab the robot by his arms, and fall backwards, taking Grap-Lor with him. A move very similar to the 'Downward Spiral', but 4GOT10 calls it Amnesia.

"Nothing to worry about!" Sonic stated, watching 4GOT10 cover the robot in a pin-cover.

"ONE!" The crowd counted the pin fall. "TWO! THREE!" 4GOT10 then got off of Grap-Lor, laughing and throwing his arms in the air in victory and the crowd roared in approval.

"I... Lose..." Grap-Lor correctly stated, before his circuits collapsed on him, and he deactivated. Not in the way a computer does, since it was an Eggman robot. So, on cue, the robot exploded.

4GOT10 barely jumped out of the ring to avoid the blast, but managed to regain his footing outside of the ring, and admired his handiwork of the large cloud of smoke.

The crowd applauded as he cockily threw his arms out and soaked in them moment, before pointing up at the EggPod.

"...Well 4GOT10..." Eggman said, lowering his EggPod to look at the wrestler. "Since you are the victor, you can receive your prize!"  
"...What prize?"  
"A reward for your victory!"

Eggman then stood up, and held a large, golden championship belt over his head. The centre-plate of the belt had an image of Eggman's face on it, complete with large moustache than went of the centre image.

"THE EGGMAN EMPIRE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNIVERSE!" Eggman proudly announced.

4GOT10 looked less than impressed with it.

Sonic stood shaking his head. "Great, Doug gets lumbered with a booby prize!"

Eggman threw the belt down, and easily caught it. Mainly due to he fact that the belt was designed for Eggman's waist. Douglas laid the belt on his shoulder, and had to stop himself from breaking character and laughing, as the belt touched the ground before and behind him.

"You may have won this time 4GOT10, but don't think I won't forget this!" Eggman then raised his EggPod, and made a quick escape out of the building, much like Sonic had done moments before, but no one had noticed the hedgehog's appearance.

4GOT10 smirked, turning away from the ring, his oversized prize on his shoulder, and walking towards the back.

He may not have known it at the time, but the cheers sounding out in the arena were to be mirrored backstage at the arena, in the Thorndyke residence, Chuck's Lab, and even in the President's House.

'Damn!' 4GOT10 thought. 'I was sure I was supposed to be playing a bad guy tonight!'

What no one realised of course, was that 4GOT10 had only won thanks to theenergy from the Power Ring he was holding in his hand. But they didn't need to know that.

* * *

Douglas was always good at avoiding getting caught up in chaos, well, at least usually. This night was one of those times. Douglas had barely managed to get out of the arena and into his taxi back to his home. What awaited him there he was a little less prepared for.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE CHAMP IS HERE!" Douglas called out jokingly, stepping through the front door, dragging his newly won belt in with him.

Instantly, his stepparents rushed through and grabbed him in a tight hug.

"DOUGLAS! We were so worried about you!" Lindsay said.  
"I'm fine! Let me breathe!"  
"I told your mother you'd be fine but she wouldn't listen!" Nelson added.  
"Hey! I'm here ain't I?"

Douglas looked over to Chuck, who was smiling. Douglas winked. "I just got caught up at work, you know? But hey, there's something you guys gotta know..."  
"What's that Douglas?" Nelson asked.  
"Well, it sort of explains what happened tonight..."

* * *

"Of course, I knew that you wouldn't get hurt, even with a blue hedgehog watching out for you!"  
"HEY! I've been watching his damn back! I got the first emerald, AND smashed one of Eggman's machines!"  
"Well, I think it's very brave of you to admit that you're have such strange houseguests staying here." Lindsay reassured her stepson.  
"It is only temporary 'till we can find some more of those emeralds." Douglas reminded. "Plus, with all this damn media hype and stuff, things would only get complicated."  
"First thing tomorrow I'll set up the spare rooms for all of our guests!" Ella stated.  
"Yeah, no offence Chuck, but it's probably very cramped for all those guys."  
"None taken." Chuck replied. 

"You know, back in my day, I used to get into quite a few escapades myself!" Nelson said.  
"Oh I'm sure Douglas was much more well behaved than you were dear." Lindsay pointed out.  
"Don't count on it." Chuck said under his breath and the family members laughed at the joke. "But you know Douglas, your father was more worried about you than he lets on. Isn't that right Tanaka?"

"Well, Master Thorndyke was concerned enough to call the President." The butler stated.  
Douglas nearly choked on his meal upon hearing this.  
"Oh! And Mrs. Thorndyke called up all the TV stations to get a bulletin on the nightly news!"  
Douglas' stepmother was offended. "I didn't have time to call ALL of them!"  
Douglas groaned, shaking his head. He didn't want to live with them, and somehow he can't live without them now.

* * *

"This is a really big belt!" Cream stated, looking at the 'Eggman Empire Championship of the Universe' Title belt. 

"No wonder, for a waist the size of Eggman's." Sonic joked.  
"Another robot bites the dust huh?" Knuckles said.  
"Watch out Sonic, you're not the only one who can smash Eggman around here." Amy joked as well

"The more the merrier." Sonic smiled as he said this.  
"Yeah, there's no way Eggman can beat us when we're together!" Tails stated happily.

* * *

From a distant hill, looking down onto the Thorndyke residence, a lone cloaked figure stood, a soft smile on his face.

"I never thought I would see the day that the Ancient Walkers' Prophesy could come true... But it shall be... It is destiny foretold, the likes of which mortal imagination cannot comprehend... So help me Walkers, if I, Merlin, shall not see it done."

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview - Voice over by Douglas

"Just when you think letting everyone know about your animal friends is a great idea, this happens! Mr. Stuart would have to choose this moment to come 'round, with a family party being thrown, a missing rabbit and Chao running around, and a hedgehog that run off to god knows where! And who's this Topaz chick anyway?

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: **'P-A-R-T-Why me?'** Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author notes: Ladies and Gentlemen, an episode 5 months in the making! Yeah, I got lazy, but also PC problems hit me, but the update is here. And yes, I am mixing elements from SatAM, Sonic Undergound, AoStH, the SEGA Sonic games, the Archie Comics,AND Sonic X all in this adaptation! Trust me, when I mess something up, I mess it up REAL good! 

Julie Riley/Julayla Beryl- The people with Sonic were Sonia and Manic from Sonic Underground. The Amy/Knux moment was a little thing I threw in, but it is not as it seems. The Mouse of Anon- Yep, Sonia and Manic will appear, but not just yet... auroragranger- The whole 'Chris' death' thing will be talked about in a future episode, but not just yet.

I've probably lost all my fan-base for this fic for being so late, but here it is anyway. Thanks, peace etc. Go read my profile for more info!

_Edited 01/05/05 for removal of lyrics_


	7. P A R T Why Me?

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro:

"Miss Cream." Tanaka said, speaking to the young rabbit. "While I of course encourage you to make as much use of the Thorndyke house as possible, it would be advisable to remain indoors."  
"Okay Mr. Tanaka." Cream said, smiling innocently.  
"That applies to your friend Cheese as well." The butler added.  
"Chao!" Cheese said, floating the air next to Cream.  
"There is a lot of unwanted attention around Master Douglas, and I do not wish for you and your friends to be discovered by anyone else."

The rabbit and Chao nodded in understanding.  
"I must go and find Master Chuck, it is time for his weekly swimming session, and I imagine he'll be hiding somewhere." Tanaka said, bowing to the animals, before leaving them in the room Ella had prepared for them.

When Tanaka had left, the cheerful expressions on Cream and Cheese's faces vanished, and were replaced with looks of sadness. They looked at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking. Cream sighed, as did Cheese.

"I don't want to stay inside..." Cream said quietly, opening the glass doors out onto the balcony. "I want to go outside and play..."  
"Chao-ao" Cheese added, floating after the rabbit.

Cream was still looking sad as she looked out through the gaps of the balcony's barrier. But looking out onto the garden, she spotted something. Something that made her eyes sparkle, a wide smile appear on her face.

* * *

It was quiet up in Chuck's lab. Sonic was relaxing in the chair in front of the S.H.I.T., Amy was sat on a bean-bag watching Sonic, Tails was scribbling something on a little notepad, and Knuckles was leaning against the wall, listening to music from a CD player that Douglas had given him. It was something called 'Hip-Hop', which the Guardian found he liked. 

The quiet mood in the lab was broken though, when the sound of children laughing was heard from outside.

"Huh?" Amy said, getting up from the beanbag. "What's that?"  
"Hmm?" Tails said, looking up at the pink hedgehog, who was moving over to the window of the lab.  
"Hey!" Amy said, looking out. "It's Cream and Cheese!"

Tails put the notepad down, and got up to look out the window. Looking down at the garden, Tails saw the Cream was kneeling down, couldn't see what the rabbit was doing as her back was to the lab. Cheese was hovering just above the grass, watching Cream's every move. Neither noticed the kitsune and hedgehog watching them.

"I wonder what she's doing out there Amy..." Tails said, watching the scene with a confused expression on his face.  
Amy turned to look at the fox, a thought striking her. "I bet Cream's out there gathering flowers!"

Sonic opened his left eye upon hearing this, to look at Tails and Amy with interest. Knuckles continued to be in his own musical world, and did not notice the other events in the room.

"But we're supposed to stay inside." Tails said. "What's so important about going outside and gathering..."

The two-tailed fox didn't finish his sentence, a flashback coming to him at that moment.

* * *

The field was bright and green. Lush shrubs, long grass, and beautiful flowers covered the meadows all around. It was nice day for a walk, just as Tails had thought it would be. He was smiling as he stepped through the fresh blades beneath him. 

He noticed, that not too far away from him, a young rabbit was kneeling down in the grass, seemingly doing something. Interested, Tails walked over. As he moved closer, he saw that it was Cream. The rabbit was humming a happy tune as she worked carefully.

"Hi Cream, what'cya doing there?" Tails asked, as he got close enough to her.

Looking over her shoulder, Cream smiled a happy, warm smile.

She then turned around and stood up, holding a bouquet of flowers in her hands.  
"I'm going to surprise my Mom by making her a crown of flowers!" Cream happily stated, and the big smile on her face as she said this showed that she was very proud of what she was doing.

The flowers were a beautiful rainbow of colours. Pinks, greens, blues, yellows, all coordinated so they wouldn't clash with each other too much.

* * *

Coming out of the flashback, the expression on Tails face changed from confusion from not understanding, to sadness for not remembering. 

"I guess Cream misses her Mom..." Tails said looking down at the floor.  
"Of course she does." Amy said, who was looking out of the window again. "I just wish... I just wish that there was something we could do to make her feel better..."

Sonic sat back with his hands resting behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. He felt bad. He had promised Cream's Mom that he'd look after Cream and Cheese, especially when Eggman had kidnapped her. He wanted to do something for her, not just to having something to do, but to keep his promise.

Sonic's eyes then drifted to a poster on the wall. It was of a lake, surrounded by flowers. Pretty flowers. The lake also seemed to be in some kind of crater, as jagged mountains surrounded it.

Sonic smirked for a brief second before jumping of hi chair, grabbing the poster, and running down the stairs from Chuck's lab, closing the door behind him.

The sound of the door closing was enough to distract Tails and Amy, who looked around the room.

"Sonic?" Amy called, but only Knuckles, still listening to his CD, was there.  
"Oh boy..." Tails stated. "Douglas isn't going to be happy about this..."  
"Don't worry Tails, I'm sure Sonic knows what he's doing." The pink hedgehog said, laying a hand on the fox's shoulder and smiling.  
"Th...Thanks Amy." Tails said, feeling a flush coming to his cheeks, which made him look towards the window quickly  
"No problem." Amy said, although she looked a little suspiciously at Tails.

'What was that about?' Amy thought to herself.

* * *

**Episode 7 **- **P-A-R-T-Why Me?**

**

* * *

**

Douglas felt ill. Not just ill, but close to the point of vomiting. It was moments like this that he regretted having taste buds and a stomach.

And a stepmother who absolutely could not cook.

Pizza with charcoal toppings, overcooked pasta, and assortment of what looked like toast cooked in a volcano, something supposed represent a lime-based refreshment that looked more sludge like.

Douglas looked at what was supposed to be a pie on his plate, but it more resembled a clay brick. Picking up a spoon, Douglas began tapping at the top of the pie, trying to crack through the top. It didn't work. Douglas then began smacking the pie with the spoon hard, a look of determination on his face. After ten hits, he looked at the spook. It was now bent out of shape, while the pie didn't have a scratch on it.

Looking shocked, Douglas quickly threw the spoon across the room, and pushed the pie aside. 'My buddy Forsaken would probably cry if he saw this...' He thought, looking at the pie.

He looked at the other 'food' on the table, and picked up the 'charcoal' pizza. 'Man this is heavy! How long did she friggin' incinerate this for?' He thought, holding it. 'You could knock a guy out with this thing!'

The door into the dining room opened, and Knuckles walked in. Or at least, started to before stopping and covering his nose.

"Hey, how ya doin' without the bandages?"  
"I'm fine, but by the Ancients! What's that smell?" The Guardian asked.  
"My stepmother's attempt at cooking." Douglas said, pointing to the pizza in his hand. "Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the same cooking techniques were used to created this."  
"That bad?"  
"You weren't at last years Christmas dinner!"

Knuckles poked a jug full of greenish liquid with his finger, which caused it to gurgle and bubbles to burst from within.

"I see..." Knuckles said, stepping back from the jug  
"Look at this pizza!" Douglas pointed at the 'food' with his free hand "Not even a bulldozer could smash this thing!"

Knuckles smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "Somehow I don't think so."  
"Oh yeah?" Douglas said, standing up from the table, and holding the pizza with both hands towards Knuckles. "Let's see you break through this then!"  
"Alright!" Knuckles said, accepting the challenge. "Watch and learn!"

Knuckles took a small step back, pulling his right hand back. With a smirk on his face, Knuckles thrust forward, sending his fist crashing into the pizza target.

The only thing that was broken at that moment was Knuckles' pride.

The Guardian called out in pain, rubbing his right hand.

"Not even a scratch on that thing dude!" Douglas exclaimed, dropping the pizza onto the table. "My step-mom's cooking could kill off enemy armies!"

At that moment, Douglas' stepmother walked in, carrying a plat full of black, thin circle things, with a small lump of butter on top.

"Oh, your friend Knuckles is here!" Lindsay said. "Would he care for something as well?"  
"Ah, I don't think he's feeling too hungry..." Douglas stated, looking at the echidna.  
"Oh, it just feels so good to be back in the kitchen again!" Lindsay said, smiling. "On the movie sets, the catering department wouldn't let me cook a thing!"  
'Probably because they have friggin' sense!' Douglas thought.

"Here are your buttermilk pancakes dear!" Lindsay said, putting the plate down where Douglas was sitting.  
Cautiously, Douglas moved back into his seat, smiling uneasily as he sat down.  
"Uh, Thanks Mom..." He said, looking at the 'pancakes' like they were plague incarnate.

Douglas picked up one from the middle of the pile, and held it in his right hand. After two seconds, the pancake crumbled downwards onto the table in a pile of ashy crumbs.

Douglas's eyes went wide, and a sweat drop appeared on the side of his head. If there were a law for crime against food, Lindsay would get a life sentence. He faked a laugh, before sighing. Knuckles continued to rub his right hand, nurturing it.

"Oh my!" Ella said, rushing into the dining room from the main hall. "I smell something burning!" The maid stopped in her tracks, upon seeing the collection of burnt, overcooked, and generally unpleasant food substances on the table, and seeing Mrs. Thorndyke in an apron covered in stains.

"Oh Ella, it just feels so good to be back home!" Lindsay said, not noticing that Douglas was stabbing into a thick soup with a fork, as if trying to kill it. "I have an idea! To celebrate, lets have a big dinner party tonight!"

Cream and Cheese poked their heads through the door, listening in on the conversation.  
"And I'm sure that you'll be able to cook up something scrumptious, won't you Ella?"  
"Of course Mrs. Thorndyke!" Ella said.

Douglas jolted back from the table, standing up. He was sure that something in the soup and grabbed his fork from him and pulled in down into the liquid.

"What do you think Douglas?" Lindsay asked.  
"Yeah... Yeah! It's a great idea!" Douglas replied. "But if you're gonna have a part-ay, could you invite my favourite step-uncle in the whole, wide world?" Douglas said, putting on a fake 'kiddie' voice.  
"Of course I will!" She said, hugging Douglas tightly. "Anything for my little baby boy!"  
"If we're going to have a party tonight, this calls for some heavy duty cleaning!" Ella stated, rolling up her sleeves. "Time to clear some clutter!" She giggled to herself, rushing back out of the room.

"Wow! A party!" Cream said, smiling. "This is great! I love parties!"  
"Chao-Chao!" Cheese replied, also smiling happily.

Knuckles wasn't so happy, as he grumbled something about finding a first-aid kit.

"Uh, Mom?" Douglas said, "Could you let go for a sec... Oh man!" Douglas saw his clothes were covered in the stains from Lindsay's apron. "It's so hard to gravy out of a Ozzy T-Shirt!"

* * *

"...While you're distracting the ref, I'll attack him a chair, you cover him, and we win! That's a victory in the bag!" Douglas, or 4GOT10, since he was in his wrestling gear, and talking to his tag-team partner for his match tonight.  
"No problem, I'll see you later yeah?" The wrestler replied.  
"Sure thing, catch ya later." 

Just as one wrestler was walking away, another one was walking up.

"Yo 4GOT10!" The approaching wrestler greeted.  
"Hey TMG, what's happening?" 4GOT10 replied.  
"Stuart's looking for you, he's still mad at you for escaping out of the arena after you beat that robot. "  
"Stuart can go to hell for all I care then! It's the last time I do him a favour!"  
"Oh, so was that Topaz chick."

4GOT10 rolled his eyes. "Another member of my stalker club. Great, my day's going from bad to worse."  
"How's that?" TMG enquired.  
"My step-mom decided randomly to host a party for no logical reason. Not that I don't like parties mind you; I just don't like family parties! I'm just grateful she won't be cooking anything!" 4GOT10 stated, taking a drink of the Station Cola he was holding.  
"So it's a big party huh?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, it's probably going to be my Mom and some of her friends of something, my step-dad left for a business trip days ago."  
"Anyone else?"  
"Oh yeah, the Speed King himself will be there! He's the coolest guy I know! The leader of the S-Team, and my own step-uncle!"  
"Man, it'd be cool to meet him in person!"

"Why not come along then?"  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah, the more the merrier! Ella always cooks WAY to much for parties anyway!"

Douglas would regret saying that, as just around the corner from the conversation, a man with pink-tinted glasses was listening in with a smirk on his face.

* * *

Cream frowned as she fastened the last flower onto the crown she was making. 

"This crown doesn't have enough flowers..." She said, holding the crown up to Cheese, who nodded, understanding. "We'll have to pick some more." Cream decided, carefully placing the flowers onto the bed she was sitting on.  
"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

With that, Cream skipped over to the door and reached upwards, taking a hold of the door handle and opening the door. Cheese flew out of the door, and waited patiently for Cream to close it after her. The Chao followed the rabbit down the hallway, and then down the main staircase of the Thorndyke mansion.

Just as Cream got to the bottom of the steps, her attention was caught by a crumpling noise coming from the living room. Peeking her head cautiously around the door frame, she saw that Douglas' step-mother, Lindsay, was standing on a chair, fixing a long fluffy decoration to the far wall from where Cream was.

"Maybe I can help decorate for the party..." Cream thought out loud, the idea of collecting more flowers now long gone from her mind.  
"Ao." Cheese said in reply, which summed up the confused expression on the Chao's face.

* * *

4GOT10 came through the black curtain from the arena with a victorious smirk on his face. The plan had worked perfectly, and he (and his partner) were winners. 

"Awesome! We did it!" His partner exclaimed, coming through the curtain after the purple-haired man.  
"As if there was any doubt!" 4GOT10 replied. "Hey, I'd love to stick around, but I got things to do."  
'And people to avoid.' He added mentally.  
"Sure, I'll see you next time yeah?"  
"Totally."

4GOT10, or more appropriately, Douglas, walked off, heading towards his locker-room have a shower and get changed into regular clothes. He was almost there, when he came face-to-face with someone he'd rather have dodged.

"Ah, Douglas!" Mr. Stuart said. "I've been looking all over for you."  
Douglas folded his arms across his chest, unimpressed by Stuart's statement and the irritating small smile on his face.  
"I know I haven't been Chief of Staff for too long, but I just wanted to say thanks." Stuart continued.  
In reply, Douglas tilted his head slightly, arching a 'People's' eyebrow.  
"I believe it's an honour to work with so many talented professionals like yourself!" Stuart said.

"Let me stop you right there Stuart." Douglas stated, tiring of the pointlessness of the conversation. "I don't know what your deal is, or why you're so damn interested in me, but if you don't back off, you'll find out just what it's like to have your spine turned into a Slinky."

Mr. Stuart gulped, quite worried about Douglas' threat, and knowing full well that he was probably able to carry it out as well.  
"I... I think we have a misunderstanding here Douglas... Which... Which is why..." The confidence began returning to Stuart's voice. "Which is why... I want to get to know all of my wrestlers better! And that's why I'm coming to visit you and your family later today!"

Douglas' face twitched a little at hearing this but stood unfazed by the announcement. Thus creating the illusion that he wasn't bothered about Stuart's visit.

"I can't wait to meet your mother and get her autograph!" Stuart stated, waving his hand in a farewell gesture and beginning to walk away. That was, unstill Douglas grabbed his arm.

"You damn sure better be only coming for an autograph..." Douglas began saying, with a dark expression on his face. "Otherwise the only thing you'll get is a matching pair of black eyes!" Douglas then let go of Stuart, who now had a clearly worried expression on his face.  
"Oh..." Douglas added. "You might as well bring your friend Topaz with you."  
"Why... Why's that?" Stuart asked.  
"Well, I assume you haven't brought her around here to just look pretty?" Douglas replied, smirking, before walking away and towards his locker room.

Mr. Stuart stood confused.  
'Look pretty?' He thought. 'What does that mean?'

* * *

Far away from Station Square, amongst the jagged rocks and boulders of the Red Mountain region, a lone, cobalt figure stood looking at a poster in his hands. 

'Man...' Sonic thought. 'This would be a lot more easier if I Knuckles' tracking and treasure hunting skills.'

The poster of the pool surrounded by flowers of course showed Sonic what he was looking for, but not the location. What made things worse, that in this area, all the mountains were the same colour of the crater the lake was in. Which either meant Sonic was close to the target, or very far away.

'Maybe it's over that tall one over there...' Sonic thought, looking at the tallest mountaintop he could see.

Rolling up the poster, and gripping in tightly in his hand, Sonic took of in a burst of speed, his familiar cocky smile on his face. Any mountain climbers would only see a sudden trail of blue rush across the rocks, before disappearing out of view.

* * *

Mr. Tanaka shook his head, carefully picking up the pot-plant on the windowsill next to the front door.  
'Although I have the up most respect for Mrs. Thorndyke's accomplishments...' The butler thought. 'Her tastes in decoration and colour coordination leave much to be desired. This type of plant would be more suited for a lounge area...' 

"Finally! The Douglas, HAS COME BACK, to 'Richsville'!" Douglas called as he stepped in through the main door into the Thorndyke mansion.  
"How was your match today Master Douglas?" Mr. Tanaka inquired, bowing respectfully with the plant in his hands.  
"Easy money!" Douglas replied.  
'I presume that means he was victorious...' Tanaka thought.

"Oh Douglas darling, you're home!" Before the purple-haired wrestler could react, his stepmother had latched onto him a tight hug.  
"GAH!" Was Douglas' initial reply.  
Tanaka used this distraction to swiftly make an exit to reposition the plant elsewhere in the house.  
"Mom!" Douglas said, now understanding his situation. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited one of my fellow grapplers from the S.S.C. to the party tonight, and my boss is coming over as well. I think he's a big fan of your movies or something."

Lindsay let go of the hug, holding her face a little over-dramatically in her hands. "That reminds me!" She said. "What am I going to wear?"  
'How the heck did me telling her about Mr. Stalker trigger that reminder?' Douglas thought.  
"I should've telephoned the studio to send over a gown!"  
"I feel sorry for dogs!" A disgruntled voice came from the top of the stairs.

Looking at the stairs, Lindsay and Douglas saw that the voice came from Chuck Thorndyke, who was dressed instead of his usual lab-coat, in a tuxedo with a green waistcoat

"How can they stand it?" Chuck continued to grumble out-loud, as he fiddled with his tie while walking down the stairs. "This collar's killing me!"  
"Yo Chuck!" Douglas greeted as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "What's up with the Double-Oh suit?"  
"Mr. Tanaka says I can't wear the lab-coat to the party!" Chuck answered, but in a sarcastic way, indicating what he felt about the clothes he was wearing. "I don't see why not!"  
"Listen, Chuck..." Douglas leant over to speak to the retired inventor. "Bad news, that weirdo Mr. Stuart's somehow found out about this party tonight, and he's invited himself along. I need you to find Sonic's crew and tell them to lay low until the guests leave, ya dig?"

"Well..." Chuck began said, holding his head in his hand in a thinking posture. "I know that Amy, Tails and Knuckles are all up in my lab, Sonic took off sometime in the morning, and I haven't seen Cream and Cheese all day..."  
"That god damn piece of...!" Douglas was about to continue talking about Sonic, when he thought he heard the sound of children's laughter.

Looking over to the living room, where the sound had come from, Douglas and Chuck saw that Cream and Cheese were trying to place some paper-chain decoration onto the shade hanging from the ceiling.

"Okay, THAT is the kind of thing that we'll need to avoid!" Douglas stated.  
"Is something wrong?" Lindsay asked.  
"AH!" Douglas nearly jumped out of his boots at the sudden question. "DON'T DO THAT!"  
"Nothing's wrong Lindsay, Douglas is a little nervous in case his friends are discovered during the party!" Chuck stated  
"I need something to do! No, better yet, we need a plan of action!" Douglas stated, regaining his composure. "Right, this is what we'll do: Mom, you go get ready for the party while me and Chuck finish off the decorations..."

"But there's plenty of time before the party." Lindsay stated, slightly concerned about her stepson.  
"Please, don't interrupt me mid-plan!" Douglas waved off the statement. "Last time it happened, I wasn't allowed to eat cheese for a month. Besides, from 'Douglas-Math' calculations on make-up time, it could take years! Right Chuck?"  
"Huh? Oh, yes!" Chuck said. "Don't forget all the food that has to be prepared!"  
"Oh..." Lindsay said, pretending to understand. "I guess I'll go and see how Ella's doing..."  
With that said, Lindsay walked off towards the kitchen.

"Okay, change of plan." Douglas said. "We remove my Step-Mom from the plan. Now, AFTER the decoration business, we round up the furries and seal them in your lab Chuck..."  
"You mean ask them to stay, right?" Chuck corrected.  
"Sorry, sorry, I meant to say seal them in Chuck's..."  
"That what you said!" Chuck stated.  
"Excellent! Glad to see you agree with everything so far!"

"Can we please get on with this?" Chuck asked, impatiently.  
Douglas nodded. "Fuck it, lets just wing it and hope for the best."  
"Don't use that word!" Chuck said, glancing around him.  
"What, best?"  
"No! The F word!"  
"Fuck?"

"YES! That word, don't use it! Especially in front of Cream!"  
"Chill dude! I'm sure they swear on Mobile-us as well."  
"Sonic's planet is called Mobius."  
"Whatever, let's move!" Douglas stated, turning around and running into the living room.

"Just a little higher..." Cream said, as she fiddled with the ends of the paper-chain.  
"Chao!" Cheese pointed out happily.  
Cream looked over her shoulder. "You're right Cheese, it's Mr. Douglas!"  
"Cream! Cheese! What are you guys doing here?" Douglas said worriedly.

This only got worse when Douglas heard the sound of the glass doors into the living room start to open. In a paranoia-fuelled reflex, Douglas leapt and grabbed Cream and Cheese and ducked down behind the sofa. Douglas mouthed 'shush', putting his finger on his lips, to the rabbit and Chao, listening to the person entering.  
"Ah..." Ella's voice stated. "Mrs Thorndyke decorates like a little kid!" The maid then laughed, walking away out of the room.

Douglas breathed a sigh of relief. Both Ella and Mr. Tanaka knew about Sonic and his friends, so it didn't matter if she had seen Cream and Cheese. But if it had been someone else...

"Look, I'm sorry about that..." Douglas apologised to Cream and Cheese. "And I don't want to sound mean, but I REALLY need you guys to go back up to the lab and stay out of sight!"  
"But the lab's boring!" Cream said, in such a polite and innocent way that it was really hard to get mad at her. "And we only wanted to help your mom get ready for the big party!"  
"Ahem!"

Mr. Tanaka's chough was mild sounding, and not angry. But the unexpectedness of it was enough to startle Douglas to bolt upright, and fall backwards over the sofa.

"...What Master Douglas means Cream..." Tanaka continued talking, to draw attention away from the other human. "Is that he understands that it is very thoughtful of you to wish to help us prepare for tonight's festivities."  
"What is with people freaking me out lately?" Douglas exasperatedly exclaimed, standing up. "What did you come from?" His question was directed at Tanaka.  
"I had to move a plant from the lobby to here."  
"The one in the white pot?" Douglas asked.  
"Yes, why?"  
"I put it in the dining room early this morning before I... Never mind! Do you know where Sonic is?"

Mr. Tanaka shook his head. "I have not seen Master Sonic all day, perhaps Miss Rose or Master Prower knows of his whereabouts."  
Douglas slapped his hand into his face, and dragged it downwards in a sign of irritation and annoyance. "It's no wonder that S.O.H. beat the S-Team! At this rate everyone will have..."

Douglas looked down to where Cream and Cheese had been a moment ago.  
"Disappeared! Where the hell did they go?"

* * *

'Master' Sonic was still racing around the Red Mountains, searching for the lake surrounded by flowers. He seemed to be nowhere near finding it, even after running non-stop for over an hour. 

'How hard can it be to find some plants?' Sonic thought to himself, looking at the poster as he ran. 'Why did Chuck have this thing in his lab anyway? I thought he'd be more into physics than biology.'

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, and continued onwards, rushing past a cave entrance and down a rocky hill.

"...What was that?" A voice said, the owner of it running out of the cave. Looking around, the figure saw a blue trail lead down the mountain he was on, and disappear along a valley.

"Heh!" The figure sneered. "There's only one thing that blue, and that fast!" He spat out a toothpick onto the ground. "So Sonic got caught up in this place as well huh? And common sense screams that the rest of Sonic's goodie-two-shoes gang will be here, as well as old Doc' Robot'!"

He tilted his cowboy hat a little, and took out another toothpick from his pocket, putting it in his mouth. "I guess that's the bad news, but good news that them Chaos Emeralds are here too! No doubt all these Over Landers will pay handsomely for those gems!"

He smiled, but the smile looked more creepy than happy. "After all, I've always had the 'Nack' for these kind of things!" He then laughed at his own joke. "Ah, sometimes you're too good for yourself Fang..." He reminded himself, turning back into the cave.

* * *

"Come on Knuckles! You can't just listen to that stuff all day!" Amy complained, trying to snatch the CD player out of the Guardian's hand.  
Knuckles simply held it up high above his head, out of the pink hedgehog's reach. "And why not?"  
"Because I want someone to talk to!" Amy argued, jumping up to try and grab it, but failing.  
"Talk to Tails then!" Knuckles suggested, nodding his head towards the fox. "He always has time to listen to you!"  
"But he's been listening to something called 'Avril Latrine' for the past hour!" 

"It's Lavigne!" Tails shouted over his shoulder, still listening to the music from the CD player he was holding.  
"Huh?" Amy said. "You can hear me?"  
Tails then pretended not to be able to hear her, with a smile on his face.  
"Tails?" Amy called. "Tails!" The pink hedgehog started to get irritated. "TAILS!" She shouted.

Her call didn't have the effect she wanted, as Tails started to laugh under his breath. Amy pouted her lips, and folded her arms over her chest, annoyed that her plan wasn't working.  
"It's not fair when you guys don't play along!" Amy stated.

'Well it isn't fair that I'll never be with the girl I love...' Tails thought bitterly. 'But that doesn't make us close to even.'

* * *

"ELLA! ELLA!" Lindsay Thorndyke called down the stairs.  
"Huh?" Ella said, picking up the sounds, barely audible over the sound of the mixer in her hand. "WHAT?" Ella shouted back, before deciding it would be easier to remove the excess sounds. So she did, by turning off the mixer.  
"I CAN'T FIND MY GREEN VERSA CHI! YOU HAVEN'T SENT IT TO THE CLEANERS HAVE YOU?"  
'That horrible thing?' Ella thought 'I'd be glad to never see it again!' 

"NO MRS THORNDYKE!" The maid shouted back. "IT SHOULD BE THERE!"  
"WELL I CAN'T FIND IT!" Was Lindsay's reply.  
Ella sighed, rolling her eyes. 'Pretty girl' She thought 'But would probably answer 'pass' when asked what her name was!'  
"I'M ON MY WAY!" Ella shouted back, before leaving the kitchen, mumbling something under her breath.

While Ella left the kitchen, Cream and Cheese entered. The young rabbit smiled, skipping up a footstool to look at the contents on the central table.

"Wow! Look at all that food!" Cream stated, looking at the roast chicken, pizzas, salads, and other tasty treats that Ella had prepared by hand. "It smells so good!"  
"Chao!" Cheese agreed, flying over to look at the bowl Ella had been mixing previously.

Whilst looking at the food, something caught Cream's attention. It was a large jug on white stand with buttons on it. Cream recognised it as the kind of thing that made yummy milkshakes. On the other side of the room, Cheese smiled at the sight of what seemed to be pink frosting in the bowl, and remembered how Cream's Mother used the same kind of mixing tool to make big cakes.

"We can help Cheese!" Cream announced, memories of helping her mom to cook flooding her mind. With that, Cream pressed the on button on her mixer, and Cheese pressed the big red button on the mixer in the bowl.

Let us analyse the situation here.

We have two very young and very innocent minds here, only wanting to be as helpful as they can be. However, in their haste to be helpful, they have not taken time to think of the consequences of their actions.

For instance, if you go down to the shops and buy a CD for a friends birthday without knowing what type of music they are into, you could buy them the S Club 7's Greatest Hits when they wanted Marilyn Manson's Greatest hits, and find yourself losing a friend very quickly. If you go down to the shops and buy your parents a loaf of brown bread instead of white, you may find yourself being forced to eat the bread with no butter or similar spread.

In this case, Cream and Cheese deciding to press the button they thought was the right one instead of checking, caused the mixers to stir at the maximum speed.

The sudden shock of seeing the contents being mixed fly up into the air was too scary for Cream and Cheese, who then ran out of the kitchen, screaming.

The screams caught the attention of Ella, who ventured back into the kitchen to investigate.

* * *

"For the love of Stacie Orrico!" Douglas thought out-loud to himself, as check the same floor for the tenth time. "How hard is it to locate a rabbit and a floating blob in this place?"  
"AAAIIIIEEEEEE!"  
"Huh?" Douglas' attention switched to the loud scream he heard. "What now?" Douglas said, more irritated than concerned. Sighing, Douglas quickly ran down the corridor, down the stairs, and into the source of the noise, the kitchen. 

The Smicktor- Thorndyke's eyes went wide in shock. 'Now that ain't right.' He thought, looking at the out of control mixers.  
"Ella!" Douglas exclaimed, seeing the maid crouching behind the table. "What happened? Are you alright?"  
"My dinner!" Ella, covered in green and pink splodges, cried. "It's a disaster!"

Douglas quickly knelt down, and using all the stealth techniques he'd learnt from watching the A-Team, switched off the mixers. Standing up, Douglas looked at the carnage of food around him.

'Normally I'd say that something smells fishy around here...' Douglas thought. 'But I think that it smells more 'creamy' and 'cheesy'!'

* * *

Sonic whistled, looking at the rushing cascade of water falling down the cliff.  
"Man, this is cool!" Sonic informed himself, taking his attention to a rickety wooden plank bridge that was strung across the gap between cliffs. 

There were few solid, good planks in the bridge, which was held together by worn, aged rope. The rest of the planks were either rotten, snapped in half, or were riddled with woodworm.  
'Not even a challenge!' Sonic decided, taking a step back and preparing to rush across the bridge.

"Stop!" A calm voice called out.

Sonic stopped himself, looking around him. His eyes locked onto a blue-cloaked figure, so seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.  
The figure smiled. "Who would cross the 'Bridge of Death' must answer me these questions three, 'ere the other side he see."  
Sonic smirked, folding his arms across his chest, being careful not to damage the poster he was holding. "Bridge of Death? Not very original is it?"

The figure did not reply, instead, he shrugged his shoulders a little. "Somehow, I don't believe 'An old bridge likely to collapse' would appeal to you."  
The blue hedgehog blinked. "Right..."  
"One: What is your name?" The figure questioned.  
"Huh? What do you mean?" Sonic replied.

The figure did not respond.  
'Alright.' Sonic thought. 'I'll play along with this guy.'  
"My name is Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Incorrect." The figure stated. "You are Prince Sonic Maurice Hedgehog, of the Royal Family of Hedgehogs, no matter how many times you neglect your royal duty."

Sonic's jaw dropped.

"Two: What is your quest?" The figure continued questioning.  
"...Uh..." Sonic tried to find words in his mouth. "I'm... Looking for this lake, surrounded by..."  
"Flowers, that you saw on the poster in Chuck's lab, yes yes." The figure finished the answer for Sonic. "It is not far after crossing this bridge."

Sonic said nothing, amazed by the knowledge from this person, whom he had never met.

"Three: Where is Knothole Village?"  
"Easy!" Sonic quickly answered. "It's hidden in the Great Forest, back on Mobius!"  
"Incorrect."  
"What?"  
"While it is in the Great Forest, it is not on the same planet it once was..."

"You mean..." Sonic said, piecing together the information he was just told. "The Chaos Control... Took Knothole... Here?"  
The figure smiled. "Correct."  
"But... But how?"  
" 'Tis destiny Prince Sonic, destiny. We were all destined to visit this world, as the prophecy foretold."

"...Say what now?"  
"The prophecy foretold by the Ancient Walkers, of The Chosen One."  
"The what who?"

The figure pulled back his hood, revealing his aged, grey face of a fox, and soft eyes. Eyes full of wonder and knowledge.

"My name is Merlin. Remember that name Prince, when you return to Knothole. 'Tis your part in destiny to help awaken the Chosen One."  
"Chosen One?" Sonic questioned, but before the hedgehog could ask anything else, in a flash of bright light, Merlin had disappeared out of sight.

Sonic stood there blinking for a moment, before shaking his head.  
"Either I need to lay off the chilli-dogs, or I haven't been eating enough of them..."

* * *

Back at the Thorndyke Residence, Lindsay was putting the finishing touches to her look for the evening. 

"There!" She announced to herself, fixing her blue-jewel earring in place on her left ear. "That should do." She thought, checking over herself in the make-up mirror in her bedroom. She had finally decided on a long red dress, matching pearl necklace and wrist accessory.  
"Well..." She thought out loud again. "At least for my entrance!" She had picked out a couple of extra outfits to use throughout the night...

Lindsay was then distracted by the telephone on the table next to her ringing.  
"Oh!" She stated. "Interruptions!" She picked up the 'phone, putting the receiver up to her ear. "Hello?"

From outside the room, Cream and Cheese peaked in to see what the noise was they had just heard.

"What's that?" They heard Douglas' Stepmother say. "The staring role!" She stood up, obviously excited by the news. "I'll catch the next 'plane out right away! Oh, wait..." Another thought came into her head. "I'm actually having a party for my step-son tonight. I'll have to leave tomorrow morning... ...Oh! I didn't realise, so start filming on location first thing tomorrow morning? No, no, I understand..."

Cream and Cheese continued to listen intently to this end of the conversation.

"You can't put a hundred-million dollar production on hold for a party..." Lindsay said. "I'll leave immediately, goodbye."

Lindsay put the 'phone down, and the look on her face showed anything other than someone who'd just been offered the lead role in a major movie.

"Oh why does it have to always happen this way?" She almost cried out. "I don't even have time to spend with my little boy!" Tears began welling up in her eyes, as she started to sniff. "I may be a great actress, but I'm a terrible mother!" She then broke down, covering her face with her hands and crying. "Oh please forgive me Douglas!" She managed to say in between sobs.

From the doorway, Cream and Cheese looked on sadly at the sight of the stepmother, wishing there was something they could do.

* * *

Flip Card 1 - Sam Speed

Full Real Name: Samuel Fair  
Nickname(s): The Highway Star, The Speed King, Sam Speed  
Gender: Male  
Age: 28  
Likes: Speed, racing, racecars, being the best  
Dislikes: Anything slow, anything boring, not being the best  
Identifying features: Often seen behind the wheel of the latest sports car, or his S-Team Pursuit Vehicle, wears red and white S-Team issue body suit.

* * *

Flip Card 2 - TMG

Full Real Name: Thomas Davidson  
Nickname(s): The Murder Game, TMG  
Gender: Male  
Age: 30  
Likes: Wrestling, entertaining  
Dislikes: Liars, people with agendas, garlic bread  
Identifying features: Short black hair, brown eyes, wrestles in Brown shorts with 'TMG' written on back, brown knee and elbow pads, brown army boots, and a brown leather mask that covers all but his eyes, nostrils and mouth.

* * *

Part 2:

Sonic hummed a tune to himself, running over and down another mountain top, leaving only a brief trail of blue as an indication of his appearance. He had no time to mess around anymore. He had to find that lake and head back home before it got too dark. It would be one of the few times in the hedgehog's life that he was actively seeking out water. Usually he did his best to avoid it.

In an instant, Sonic brought himself to a complete stop. Raising his free hand to above his eyes, his other still held the poster of his goal; he looked around him from the vantage point. At eye level, there were some more mountains, and clear blue sky.

Below him, he saw something that made him smile. A beautiful shimmering lake of crystal clear water, completely surrounded by flowers and plants of all colours and shades, some of which Sonic had never even seen before.

"YEAH!" Sonic shouted out, throwing the map up in the air and rushing down towards the lake.  
In a second, Sonic was at the edge of the mass of flowers. Gently, he knelt down picked up a small white flower. He raised it up to his nose, and took a deep sniff.

To say that the scent was just what the hedgehog had hoped for was an understatement.

* * *

Back at the Thorndyke house, Douglas was still looking, unsuccessfully, for Cream and Cheese. 

"Cream, are you around here?" He called, walking onto the patio area by the swimming pool. "Cheese can you hear me?"

Douglas stopped, glancing over his shoulders and then around him to see if he'd gained any response. No such luck. He then sighed, looking up at the sky, and then at his feet. His face twitched, and his hands clenched into fists, shaking slightly. Then, in one moment of uncontrollable anger, Douglas threw his head back and screamed into the air.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THOSE MOTHERFUCKING KIDS?"

Silence followed, as Douglas continued to stare up at the sky, his chest moving up and down as he calmed himself down from his outburst.

"…Wait… I know…" He said, lowering his head back to a normal position. "The lab… Yes… Maybe they're back at the lab with Chuck… Of course… Of course that's where they'll be!"  
Douglas began laughing, in short burst, each becoming longer and louder, until he was almost laughing hysterically at nothing, at which point he ran off towards Chuck's lab.

From the balcony above, Ella stepped out, and watched the purple-haired wrestler leave, unaware of the crude outburst from before.  
"Oh dear… the poor boy!" She thought aloud. "I can't tell him Mrs. Thorndyke's leaving! He's in a good mood!"

* * *

A few moments later, Mr. Tanaka was putting the last bag into the trunk of Mrs. Thorndyke's pink car.  
He closed it, and turned to state the obvious, but Ella grabbed Lindsay's attention first. 

"Mrs. Thorndyke!" Ella said "I was going to find Douglas, but he seemed to be laughing, and I thought that telling him would only ruin his mood, and…"  
"No, I understand Ella." Lindsay said, taking a hold of the worried maid's hand. "Please tell Douglas how sorry I am and apologise to Mr. Stuart and my brother."  
"They'll understand." Ella replied. "You take care Mrs. Thorndyke."

Releasing the hand, Lindsay walked down the short steps toward the car.

"Don't hesitate to call me if something happens, or if Douglas needs anything." She said.  
"Certainly, Mrs. Thorndyke." The butler replied, bowing gracefully.

Lindsay nodded in reply, and stepped into the back of the car. After she was in, the chauffer closed the car door, and quickly moved into the driver's seat. A moment later, the engine roared into life, and the car took off down the driveway and out of the Thorndyke Residence.

The car left behind a concerned butler and maid, fearing for the worst for the party to come.

* * *

"AHA!" Douglas shouted, pointing a finger into the lab, as he pushed the hatch open with his other hand. 

He was greeted the confused looks all those in the room. Amy, who looked up from reading a magazine, Tails and Chuck, who had been previously looking at S.H.I.T data, and Knuckles, who had been looking out of the window.

"Hey Douglas…" Knuckles said, breaking the uneasy silence that followed Douglas' entrance. "Did you hear that crazy laughter? It sounded like someone high on…"  
"Never mind that!" Douglas said, stepping into the room. "Where's Cream and Cheese?"  
"…Weren't they with you?" Chuck offered as a reply, shrugging his shoulders.  
"NO!" Douglas shouted, grabbing his hair with both of his hands. "They're running amuck around the house, and that creep Stuart's coming around to the party! If he sees wither of them then we'll all be in more trouble than soft toy in a flamethrower factory!"

"Calm down Douglas!" Chuck said, turning his chair to address him. "All we have to do is split up, and each of us will search a different part of the house. We'll find them, in no time, right?"  
"Right!" Tails and Amy replied, nodding.  
Knuckles smirked. 'Finally!' He thought. 'A chance to use treasure hunting and tracking skills!'  
"Yes… YES!" Douglas said, releasing his hair and smiling. "Genius! Let's move out troops!"

* * *

"Attention Green Goblin, come in Green Goblin; over." The voice from the radio cracked into life.  
"This is Green Goblin, receiving you loud and clear; over." Topaz, wearing casual clothes, said, speaking into the transmitter mouthpiece attached by a wire to the radio. In the driver seat next to her, Mr. Stuart concentrated on driving to the Thorndyke house.  
"Subject: Mrs. Lindsay Thorndyke." The radio voice spoke again. "Status: Left Thorndyke residence approx five minutes ago. Intelligence provides reason as secured movie role, requiring immediate departure; over."  
"Understood. Any other reports; over?" 

"Affirmative. All other guests are scheduled to arrive…"  
"From the Thorndyke house!" Topaz snapped. "Have the animals tried leaving, over?"  
"Uh… Negative…" The voice replied, although sounding more nervous. "Animals last seen… Actually entering the house, moments ago… Bar Sonic, who departed early in the morning; over."  
"What about Douglas?" Stuart said, eyes still focused on the road, as he watched a pink car on the other side of the road turn to the left up ahead of him.  
"Any status of Smicktor; over?" Topaz asked.

"Smicktor reported to have screamed into the air, laughed manically, ran into lab building, leave lab building with all the animals and Chuck Thorndyke, and rush into the main building. Caution advised; over."  
Topaz hung up the transmitter. "Weird… Could be a trap…" She said thoughtfully.  
"I doubt it." Stuart replied. "They don't suspect anything. And from Douglas' reaction, he didn't expect me to be popping around today…"  
"I still think this is a bad idea. Smicktor is the kind of guy to snap in a second if pushed."  
"You worry too much." Stuart smirked as he spoke. "You should just worry about not damaging our little 'bug' during the party."

"Oh, right." Topaz shrugged, pulling a small black box with a red light out of her pocket. "This little guy…"  
"Don't worry, we're nearly there."

* * *

"…Where's Knuckles at then?" Douglas said, speaking to the pink hedgehog.  
"I saw him climb up the walls to look on the roof…" Amy started to say.  
"The roof? I know Cheese has got those little wings to fly, but Cream…"  
"Oh, didn't you know? Cream can fly as well, she just flaps her ears!"  
"…Okay…" 

Douglas' thoughts then turned to the sound of the doorbell.

"I will answer the door…" Tanaka stated, walking past Amy and Douglas.  
"Okay, you carry on looking for Cream and Cheese, and remember to stay away from the living room until I give the signal!"  
"No problem!" Amy replied, before skipping out of the hallway.  
"Master Douglas, your friend from the wrestling is here…" Before Tanaka had finished, Douglas was up at the front door to greet his guest.

"Hey Tom!" Douglas said. "Glad you could make it!"  
"No probs!" Tom replied, dressed in regular clothes compared to what he usually wore to wrestle. "Damn man! This is some place you've got here!"  
"It's not bad." Douglas shrugged. "Colours could be better. Come in man, you're the first guest to arrive."  
"Really? Before The Highway Star?" Tom genuinely sounded surprised.

"He arrives on time, but HIS time." Douglas explained, as Tanaka closed the front door. "He won't be that long probably…"  
The sound of the doorbell broke the conversation again.  
"Is that him?" Tom looked over his shoulder.  
"Without the roar of a sports car engine accompanying him? I doubt it."

Tanaka opened the door again. He was greeted by the sight of a man in a suit with a dozen red roses, and a woman in a casual white top and jeans.

"I'm Douglas' boss, Mr. Stuart, and this is my friend Topaz." The man spoke.  
"We've been expecting you." Mr. Tanaka replied, and motioned for the two to come in.  
"You didn't invite him, did you?" Tom asked in a whisper.  
"Hell no I didn't." Douglas replied, in a similar whisper.  
"Coincidence?"  
"Common sense says unlikely."

"Ah Douglas! Good to see you again!" Stuart greeted.  
"Yeah, sure." Douglas replied, unimpressed. "Topaz, right?" Douglas spoke to the woman.  
She nodded in reply, slightly apprehensive.  
"Oh! Guests have arrived!" Ella said, coming out from the kitchen. "Welcome!"

"Guests? Are you having a party?" Stuart asked, putting on fake surprise.  
"Oh yes! Mrs. Thorndyke wanted to have a big party tonight!" Ella continued, unaware of the odd looks that she and Stuart were receiving.  
"Douglas! I'm shocked." Again, Stuart put on a painfully phoney hurt expression, so much so that even Topaz shook her head. "You didn't invite me to your little party."  
"Yeah, well, it's for friends and family." Douglas replied, resisting the urge to throw him out. "Close friends and family I might add."  
"You don't consider me to be your friend?" Stuart asked again.

Douglas took a few steps forward, and looked Stuart straight in the eye.  
"You surprise me Stuart. I didn't think you have enough brain cells to work that one out."  
No sounds came from any of the other people in the room, but collectively jaws hit the floor at that point.  
"Now, I don't know your friend well enough…" Douglas motioned to Topaz, whilst talking in a voice with such a hint of sinister-ness that it seriousness could not be denied. "…To pass judgement, but I assume she's a much better person than you will ever be. I also advise you, Mister Stuart, to enjoy your stay here as much as possible; because believe me, it is your first, and last."

Douglas smirked for a second, nodding his head and turning away, walking into the living room. After his departure, a brief uneasy silence followed. Which was broken by laughter from Tom.

"Man, you got seriously punked out!" Tom laughed, pointing at Stuart, before following the direction Douglas took.  
"Uh… You will have to excuse Master Douglas' actions. He is known to get very… Defensive… When his 'personal space' is invaded." Tanaka explained.  
"Not… Not at all…" Mr. Stuart replied, still trying to process what Douglas had said to him.  
"Please, come this way." The butler offered.

Topaz smiled, secretly happy that Douglas had put Stuart's ego in check.  
"Told you so." She whispered, walking past him and into the living room.  
Stuart frowned, but showed no other outward emotion.  
'Oh no Smicktor…' He thought. 'You haven't won!'  
Without another thought, he felt for the little black box in his pocket, and pressed the on button.

* * *

"Please! Everyone take a seat!" Ella offered when everyone was in the living room. 

Mr. Stuart, still holding the roses, entered last. Because of his height, he instantly noticed a colourful paper chain over the shade of the room's hanging light.

"Uh… Interesting style…" Topaz said, looking at it.  
"Do you like it?" Ella asked. "Not only is Mrs. Thorndyke a great actress, but an artist too!"  
Douglas had a disgusted look on his face, not believing the stupidity of the situation.  
"Contemporary?" Tom offered, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, it's nice and all, but some more browns could do wonders…"  
"Oh, it's great!" Stuart lied. "I can't wait to meet her and give her my complements!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Stuart…" Ella began, sadness obvious in her voice. "But just before you arrived Mrs. Thorndyke got offered an important movie roll, and she had to leave right away!"  
Douglas' attention snapped right up hearing this.  
"That's really too bad…" Stuart now faked disappointment. "I was looking forward to meeting her in person." He looked at the roses in his hand. "I guess… I'll give these to you then!" Stuart said, offering the roses to Ella.  
"OH! What beautiful roses!" Ella gleefully took the flowers.

Topaz rolled her eyes, moving beside Douglas. "Oh please…" She said.  
"Tell me about it." Douglas replied. "Romance sucks."  
"Totally." Topaz nodded in agreement.  
"I'll put them in some…" Ella was interrupted by the loud sound of something breaking nearby.

* * *

In the kitchen, a cupboard opened up, and Tails popped his head out.  
"Hello?" He said, wondering where the noise he'd heard had come from.

* * *

In Douglas' bedroom, Amy pulled herself out from underneath Douglas' bed, her attentions also drawn away by the sound.  
"Huh?" She said, before finding that her Piko-Piko Hammer was stuck under the bed.

* * *

Up on the roof, Knuckles' also heard the sound.  
"Something is rotten in the state of Thorndyke." The Guardian stated, before his attentions were caught by another sound, one of a loud car engine.

* * *

"What was that?" Ella stated, putting the flowers down on the little coffee table. 

Everyone in the room moved around, looking for the source of the sound. Stuart took the time to move over to a painting of some coloured squares, and take out the little black box in his pocket. He smiled, looking at the flashing red light, indicating that it was on.

Ella walked over to the only open window of the room, and looked out. She was surprised to look out and see Chuck, amongst smashed plant pots and soil. He was visibly wincing as well. Opening his eyes, Chuck saw the weird look Ella was giving him, and instantly sprung to his feet.

"Uh, hi Ella!" Chuck said, a big, toothy grin on his face; used to mask the embarrassment he was feeling. "I was just… Leaning out the window… And… I fell out… And happened to knock over these flowers!"  
"…I don't know what you're playing at Mister…" Ella stated. "But you'd better be on your best behaviour! Douglas' boss from the wrestling is here!"  
"OH!" Chuck said, remembering. "I'd better come in and say hi!" He said, beginning to climb up onto the windowsill and through the window into the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: My Step-Grandfather Chuck." Douglas said, motioning a hand towards the man entering though the window.  
There was a visible sweat-drop on the foreheads of everyone in the room.

Douglas sighed, watching Ella argue with Chuck about the ethics of using doors to enter places with. Something caught his glance out of the bottom of his eye. Two little red and yellow shoes. Ones that could only belong to Cream the Rabbit.

"AHA!" Douglas called out in victory, thus attracting attention to himself.  
"What's the matter Douglas?" Ella asked. "Why did you scream?"  
"Uh…" Douglas said, glancing around him. "I was just thinking… Of… The best way to execute a powerbomb! Oh yes, absolutely!"  
"I must say, that this is an extraordinary painting!" Mr. Stuart said, looking at the painting he was standing next to.

Behind the curtain, Cream was holding onto Cheese, both a little frightened by the voices of strangers and crashing noises that they were hearing. Suddenly, through the window, they saw the familiar form of Sonic jump up onto a tree outside. He smiled at them, waving a bunch of the prettiest flowers that Cream had ever seen in her life. He then pointed over to Chuck's lab, indicating that he would be waiting for her there, and jumped away.

Her head now filled with thoughts of the flowers, she completely forgot about hiding, and left the safety of the curtains.

"Wow! Mr. Sonic went out and picked a whole bunch of pretty flowers just for me!" She said, walking from the curtains.

Chuck shook his head, holding it in his hand, whilst Ella and Tanaka sweat-dropped. Stuart and Topaz's jaws dropped in amazement, whilst Douglas had look of anger mixed with disbelief on his face.

Unaware of what was going on, Tom picked Cream gently by the back of her neck.  
"Uh… You could have some too Mister…" Cream said to the man, a little scared at having just being picked up.  
"No… No thanks…" Tom replied. "Am I seeing things, or is this giant animal here talking?" He asked, unsure.  
"Talking animals! HA! What a joke!" Chuck said, trying almost to fool himself.  
"Yes, that is some joke." Mr. Tanaka added.

"Hmm… Love this painting!" Stuart said to anyone who was listening to him, which no one was.  
'No manual ever teaches you to deal with situations like this…' Topaz thought.

"Careful with those!" Douglas said, tenderly taking Cream and Cheese from Tom and holding them close to him. "Those are like special… Animal… Toy… Things, which my Dad, Step-Dad I mean, wants me to test out!"  
"No way man!" Tom said. "I swear, I heard those things talk! Now I may wrestle like a lunatic, and I may…" Tom continued to rant, whilst Douglas whispered instructions to Cream and Cheese.  
"Listen, just pretend to be toys, and everything will be okay." He whispered, to which the rabbit and Chao nodded in reply.  
"…And no way is anyone gonna tell me otherwise!" Tom concluded.

"Hey hey!" A voice from outside said, diverting everyone's attention again.

Suddenly, the door to the living room flung open, and in walked a man with orange hair, with 'SPEED' written across his T-Shirt.

"Where's the party?" He asked, smiling.  
"Sam Speed!" Douglas said, smiling at one of the few step-relatives that he liked. "Now the party can begin!"  
'Oh great…' Ella, Tanaka and Chuck thought. Topaz showed about as much interest as Stuart did, but not nearly as much as Tom was.  
"Right, this is Topaz…" Douglas introduced. "My boss Mr. Stuart, and the SCC Champ, Tom Davidson, TMG himself."

"Cool! Nice to meet a fellow champ!" Sam extended his hand, shaking Tom's.  
"Dude, you are like THE man!" Tom replied.  
"I hear you're involved with the Highway patrol?" Stuart asked, if only to remind people that he was still here.  
"Well, I don't like to brag, but I'm the leader of the S-Team!" Sam replied.  
"THAT statement is only half correct!" Chuck grumbled.

"Really?" Stuart was actually more impressed, as apposed to Topaz, who was now clearly disinterested.  
"Man, Sam here drives faster than anyone, ANYONE, in the whole world! No one can touch him! That's why they call him 'The Speed King'! Sam even came up with the name himself, ain't that right?"  
"Sure!" Sam replied. "A little self promotion never hurt anyone!"

The self-proclaimed 'Speed King' then entered into a full-blown laugh, only enjoyed by himself. The rest of the room looked on with a look of annoyance, apart from Douglas who just smirked, and Tom who seemed more interested.

"Let's cut the chit-chat and get this party moving!" Sam quickly snapped out of his laugh. "It's too slow!"  
"And you're mouth is too fast!" Ella snapped back.  
"Ha! I can't help it if I enjoy speed!" Sam said, sitting down. "I've always been fast."  
"I can bet." Topaz said under her breath.  
"I even beat the Doctor to the Delivery room! I was the only kid in town with a 5-speed transmission on my baby carriage!"

"Huh?" Tom said, now a little more confused about what Sam was talking about. Douglas was actually sure that he heard two drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff.  
"I admit it!" Sam continued. "I enjoy living in the fast lane! Even in the Supermarket, no matter how many items I have, I use the Express Checkout!"

It was now clear from the looks on people's faces in the room that they were not caring one bit what Sam was saying. Except for Douglas, who seemed to be loving it, and Tom, who was tapping his wristwatch, checking if it was working properly.

"I can't even walk my dog! I make him run!" Sam then entered into another loud laugh.  
"I guess he's one of those guys who always comes first…" Topaz said, standing next to Douglas again.  
Douglas looked at her, shrugging. "Somehow I don't think he'd care." He replied.  
"There's only one guy who's faster!" Sam said, a look of seriousness on his face.

"Huh?" Douglas said, looking at Sam. "Faster?"  
"I've NEVER seen ANYTHING that fast, but don't you worry! I'll catch up with him someday!"  
"Really!" Stuart exclaimed, now very interested. "What did it look like?"  
"It's weird…" Sam spoke, almost not believing (or wanting to believe) his own words. "But he looked like a big blue hedgehog! He even had spikes and…"

Sam stopped himself, when out of the corner of his eye; he noticed some blue through the window. Turning his head, he took a better look. There, sitting on a branch of a tree, was that same hedgehog who had been faster than him only a few weeks ago. What's more, the hedgehog was taunting him, waving with a cocky smirk on his face.

"HEY!" Sam stood up, pointing at the hedgehog. "THERE HE IS!"

Everyone in the room, bar Tom, who had his wristwatch pressed against his ear, turned and looked where Sam was pointing. They all saw Sonic sitting on the branch, who promptly jumped off it and out of sight. Tom then looked at the window, and saw only an ordinary tree. Everyone else in the room turned away from the window, as if they hadn't seen anything.

"THERE! DID YA SEE HIM?" Sam asked almost desperately. "That was the blue hedgehog I was talking about!"  
"Sorry…" Stuart said, looking at the painting he was next to. "I was too busy looking at this wonderful painting."  
"Nothing but a big old tree!" Ella said.  
"I didn't see anything!" Chuck said. "Did you?" He asked the butler.  
"Perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you Sir." Tanaka suggested.

"But I'm tellin' ya! I SAW IT!" Sam exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "You two saw it, right?" He looked at Topaz and Douglas.  
"Sorry, but I was looking at my nails." Topaz shrugged her shoulders. "I think I chipped my nail polish."  
"I was offering my medical opinion." Douglas agreed, nodding his head. "Those can be pretty nasty if left untreated!"  
"You're not a doctor!" Topaz looked at Douglas.  
"I can play one on TV!"

Sam rubbed his eyes with his arm, trying to blink some sense into them.  
"I saw it!" The S-Team leader stated. "My eyes don't lie!" He crossed his arms, now ignoring everyone else's opinions. "That thing waved at me and ran off!"  
"I don't know guys…" Tom said, stepping forward. "I mean, you all thought I was on the weed or something when I heard that animal talk!"  
"Animal talk?" Sam questioned. "I didn't hear it talk, but I'm sure it could understand what I said! We both saw the same creature!" Sam assumed. "That proves I'm not crazy!" He added, smugly.  
"Uh, I don't think so." Tom stated. "It that animal I heard." He pointed at Douglas holding Cream and Cheese.

"OKAY PEOPLE let's calm down now!" Douglas quickly announced, knowing that the attention was now on him. "I know we're all a bit emotional and stuff, and I apologise that my mom, step-mom I mean, can't be here for the party. I heard she had to leave for some movie…" As Douglas talked, Cream and Cheese listened in to every word. "…And didn't give any notice, so understandably I'm a little mad as well. I mean, sure, Mister Stuart and me don't see eye-to-eye, but he's a big fan of her movies, and she left before he even arrived! Rude or what?" Douglas joked a little with the rhetorical question.

"Yeah… That sounds like my sister all right…" Sam agreed.

Cream blinked, subconsciously, as memories came back of earlier that day. Of Lindsay's sadness, her crying over having to leave, of speaking out loud for forgiveness from her stepson.

That was too much for both Cream and Cheese. Angrily, Cream pushed her way out of Douglas' arms, landing on the floor.

"You're wrong!" Cream said, looking up at Douglas with the angriest look she could muster. "Your mom felt bad about having to leave and she tried to find you to say goodbye!"  
Douglas titled his head, confused, as Cheese yelped at the human, agreeing with what the rabbit was saying.  
"You're lucky!" Cream said, tears welling up in her eyes. "You get to talk to you're mom all the time on the 'phone! I can't even do that!"

With that said, Cream then ran out of the room, crying, with Cheese following behind her. As the door to the outside slammed shut, the humans in the room felt an uneasy silence. But Douglas also felt something else, which made him clench his hands into fists.

"Well." Tanaka broke the silence, diverting everyone's attention to himself. "I hope you all enjoyed that. I've been practising my ventriloquism act for weeks now. And if I don't say so myself I'm not half bad." Tanaka followed up his statement by coughing into his hand.  
"Ah yes! This painting is stunning!" Stuart said.  
"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT DAMN PAINTING!" Douglas suddenly snapped angrily, causing everyone to jump back in surprise.

Suddenly, the door from the hall opened up, and Tails ran out and through the room, followed by Amy.  
"CREAM!" Tails shouted, as he headed for the door where Cream had left.  
"Come here Cream!" Amy shouted, following Tails out of the room.

Another uneasy silence followed.

"…Fuck this…" Douglas concluded, turning around and leaving the room through the door to the hall.  
"Uh… Did anyone of you guys see those animals run past?" Tom said, pointing to the door they had left from.  
"If I had a therapist, they would love to hear about this…" Topaz muttered under her breath.  
"Well Sam…" Chuck said, walking over to the S-Team leader. "It's nice of you to take time out of your 'busy' schedule to visit us, and of course, you're more than welcome to visit anytime you like."  
"Yeah, well you know me! It'll have to a QUICK visit!" Sam proceeded to enter into another full-blown laugh.

"I guess I've seen enough…" Stuart stated, thankful he hadn't gone blind from looking at the awful painting. He then looked at the black box still in his hand, but sighed and put it in his pocket.  
"Yeah, it's been nice being here…" Topaz said to Mr. Tanaka. "Tell Douglas I said bye when you see him."  
"Of course." Tanaka replied.  
"Mr. Thorndyke…" Stuart said to Chuck. "I've got to go. I have paperwork for the next big event to finalise. Send my regards to Douglas' step-mother and tell her I'm sorry we didn't get to meet."  
"Sure thing." Chuck replied.

* * *

The large metal gates opened up, and the green car containing Mr. Stuart and Topaz left the grounds. 

"Attention Green Goblin, come in Green Goblin; over." The voice from the radio cracked into life.  
"This is Green Goblin, receiving you loud and clear; over." Topaz replied into the transmitter.  
"Subject: Douglas Smicktor. Left Thorndyke residence barely a minute ago. Current location unknown; over."  
"Understood; over and out." Topaz hung up the mouthpiece. "This isn't good."  
"Don't worry, he can't have gone far." Stuart replied.

Back at the mansion, Sam was already in the driver's seat of his ludicrously expensive sports car.  
"See you in my rear-view mirror!" Sam announced, before speeding away up the drive from the house, barely before Tanaka had even began bowing.

This left Chuck, Ella and Tanaka standing at the top of the steps before the mansion itself.  
"Thank goodness that's over!" Ella stated, to which Chuck and Tanaka agreed.

They returned into the house, and back into the living room, to find Tom sat on the sofa, looking at the fingers on his hands.

"Maybe I've been working too hard…" He thought aloud. "I'm starting to hallucinate!"  
"Master Chuck…" Tanaka whispered. "Perhaps it would be better to let Master Douglas' friend in on our secret."  
"You're right Tanaka!" Chuck replied. "It would make things a lot more easier around here!"

The three walked over to the seated man.  
"Tom." Chuck said, getting the wrestler's attention. "Listen, it's like this…"

* * *

"Man, this is crazy!" Tom exclaimed, watching Cream and Cheese helping Ella by stacking plates. "But in a cool way, ya know."  
"No problem." Knuckles replied, standing beside the wrestler. "This tend to get hectic around here anyway. Today was just exceptionally so."  
"It's such a relief that the only thing nuts around here is my Pecan Pie!" Ella stated, stirring the contents of a large pot. "Plus, we don't have to hide you anymore sweetie!"  
"We can all be friends!" Cream happily replied, while Cheese nodded in agreement. "And it means we can help you out in the kitchen!"  
"Oh, you're so sweet!" Ella added. "Your mother must miss you terribly!" 

"Please don't worry. Sonic and my friends will find a way back home. Until then you can take care of me." Cream added, her eyes shining a little with emotion.  
"Oh, I will!" Ella smiled, her eyes starting to water a little as well.  
"Thank you Ella."  
"Chao-Chao!" Cheese concluded.

"Now that we're all in on it…" Sonic said, standing beside Knuckles and Tom. "We've got the run on this place."  
"You never stay around here long enough to notice!" Knuckles pointed out.  
"That's not true!" Sonic replied. "I'm here to sleep aren't I?"  
"Yeah, that really counts." The Guardian rolled his eyes.

Tom laughed.  
"Whatever!" He said. "It's getting late, I'd better get going home. Hopefully I'll see you guys around, right?"  
"No problem." Sonic winked, giving the thumbs up.  
"Maybe check out the arena next time you're around, you guys would run rings around most of the roster!" Tom waved as he walked away.

Sonic turned around, to see Knuckles in deep thought, his arms folded over his chest.

"You Knuckles, what's up?"  
"I think we need to talk, meet up in Douglas' room." Was all Knuckles replied, before walking off in the other direction.

* * *

"So what's the deal?" Sonic asked, looking around the wrestler's room.  
"I watched Douglas leave the house after Cream's 'outburst'…" Knuckles began. "And to say he was less than happy is an understatement. The term these people use is 'pissed off' I believe."  
"Right… So?"  
"This is about family Sonic. Douglas' family, or should I say, lack off. He doesn't care about how his step-mom felt having to leave, and he probably doesn't care that Cream misses her mother." 

"You sure?" Sonic questioned.  
"Positive. There's something he is not telling us, and I doubt he ever will…"

Knuckles was interrupted by the sound of happy humming from outside. The hedgehog and echidna looked at the door, and Cream came in, holding a ring expertly woven flowers.

"Is Mister Douglas back yet?" Cream said, a warm smile on her face.  
"Uh, no Cream." Sonic answered.  
Cream's smile vanished into a sad frown. "Oh…" She said. "I made this specially for him… I wanted to see him wear it…"  
"I'm sure he'll love it Cream." Knuckles stated. "It'll be a nice surprise for when he gets back!"  
"Really?" Cream's smile returned.  
"Of course!" Sonic added.

"That's great!" Cream went over to the bed, and put the flowers on it. "Now I'm going to give Ella her flowers!" And with that said, the rabbit happily skipped off out of the room.

"…Wow." Sonic stated, looking at the flowers. "That's one of Cream's flower crowns. She only gives them to the people she really likes a lot."  
Knuckles shook his head. "I only hope that Douglas will appreciate this as much as we did when we first got ours."

* * *

At the other side of town, in a dimly lit bar, Douglas Smicktor was sat on a bar stool, drinking down his second pint of beer. 

"Tough day 4GOT10?" The bar man asked.  
"You've got no idea." Douglas replied. "It's fucked up that my work's mixed up with my private life, and all this animal bullshit as well…"  
"You should watch out. There's this asshole by the name of Stuart that's been snooping around for info about you."  
"Yeah, I got my eye out for him, but thanks anyway."  
"No problem buddy." The bar said, finishing cleaning a glass and putting in away.

Douglas sighed, trying to block out the sounds of the bar around him, and any thoughts in his head. What Cream said had pissed him off majorly.

'Oh yes!' Douglas thought bitterly. 'I'm SO damn lucky to have a fake family to talk to. I'm SO lucky to have all the money in the world just because I got adopted. And I'm oh so VERY lucky to have no idea who my parents were, live on the streets for years, and have all this crap about how I'm supposed to live shoved down my throat EVERY DAMN DAY!'

He sighed again, taking another gulp of his beer.

'I'm sorry Chris, but it's too damn hard to forgive your parents and give them a second chance. It's not I don't trust them… It's… It's just… My whole life now… It feels so fake…The money, the house, the fame… I don't deserve it! I'm not a real Thorndyke! I shouldn't be here! Damn, sometimes… Sometimes I feel I shouldn't belong on this planet!'

Only a minute after this, back at the Thorndyke Residence, Cream was carefully placing a flower crown on Ella head. Overjoyed clapping, cheering and laughing from Chuck, Tails, Amy, Cream, Cheese and Ella accompanied this.

In fact, the whole of the Thorndyke household was full of happiness. At not for the first time, it happened when Douglas was not there.

* * *

**

* * *

**

Next Episode Preview - Voice over by Douglas

"Reception problems? I wish! Eggman's latest machine is swallowing up all the satellites in outer space, and not even the Tornado can keep up with it! Can Tails and Chuck put their minds together to upgrade it, or will we be forced to watch 'Eggman TV' forever?

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: **The X-Factor**! Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author notes: Wow, did this episode really suck to write! It was way too despressing, you guys have no idea. But at least it's done and I can screw about with comedy in the next ep! 

The Mouse of Anon- You guessed it, Sonia and Manic. There will be scenes between the SatAM and SU characters, throughout Sonic eXcluded. Some of the stuff I've got planned is pretty interesting...  
Tamara941- I won't touch on the Chris death thing for a while, and the whole explination of his death won't appear 'till MUCH later, so stay tuned.  
Forsaken The Blackened- Hope you like the 'Pie' reference I put in for ya!  
Julie Riley/Julayla Beryl- There'll be more SatAM and SU when the next major storyline starts up, and that's all I'll say about that.

Thanks for reading, and keep reviweing!

_Edited 01/05/05 for removal of lyrics_


	8. The X Factor

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro

Doctor Eggman frowned, looking down at the large blueprint in front of him. He had looked over this particular plan many, many times. Sometimes to make modifications, sometimes to use as reference for helping to make other blueprints. But this was actually the first time he had sat down, and actually studied it with the intent of bringing it 'to life'.

It was not going to be an easy task, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, this was not his own plan. He had inherited it from his father, Doctor Julian Robotnik. The same Robotnik with an unhealthy obsession of replacing his mortal body with machinery. The same Robotnik who had taken over Mobius, casting nearly all of its royal family members into something known only as 'The Void'. The same Robotnik who had caused the Great War between himself and almost every furry on the planet.

Julian was a master of mechanics, but had a strange way of working. He preferred to work on small projects and huge projects. Rarely did he attempt any 'middle-sized' projects. Which explained why the mass-produced 'SWAT-bots' were all basically the same, and therefore easily beaten. Small projects, such as the 'Spy-Orb' and his own physical enhancements (He replaced his arms with mechanical ones, and most of his brain and senses with computers. He was said to have two sinister looking LED sensors instead of eyes).

His huge projects were certainly that. Robotropolis, the centre of Julian's empire, was a whole city built of steel, metal and machinery. A robotic city, hence it's name.

Eggman happened to be looking at another such plan. But not of a city. It was of something entirely different. Something so sinister, so ingenious, and so dangerous, that the Freedom Fighters did everything in their power to stop it from being created. When spoken of, many people actually shivered with fear, such was the effect of its mere mention.

Project Doomsday.

AKA 'The Death Egg'.

Doctor Ivo Robotnik, nicknamed 'Eggman', is the son of Julian Robotnik. And although sharing the same mechanical minded genes from his blood (The Robotnik family had a history of high IQs and technological skills, as proven by Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik), Eggman knew that if he were to build this 'Death Egg', it would be the biggest thing he'd ever attempted. Which was the problem. The plan was complex, and required a level of skills that Eggman had yet to attempt to use.

To say it would be a challenge would be an understatement.

This leads into the second problem. When saying that the 'Death Egg' is a huge undertaking, words do not really do it justice. It would require not only a lot of time, effort and wielding, but metal.

That was something Eggman simply did not have enough of right now.

When the Chaos Control warped Eggman and his fortress to this planet called 'Earth', it only took the robots currently in the base at that time. The stockpile of metal that Eggman used when building a machine was located far away from the base so was not taken.

Sure, the Doctor had an emergency stockpile, but that was running thin. Especially after the failure of 'Grap-Lor'.

There were also various other problems that did not relate to the 'Death Egg' plan. Sonic and his friends are still a threat, and have one Chaos Emerald. The rest have yet to be found. Eggman had his suspicions that other people from Mobius were taken into this world by Chaos Control. News reports and intelligence seem to state that a large portion of 'newly discovered land' has appeared. Access to this area has been blocked off until further investigation. Not that anything this planet could offer could prevent Eggman from taking a look for himself.

It also seemed that the government of this world was watching Eggman. Not too long ago did his sensors pick up what seemed to be a spy team monitoring activities on 'Eggman Island' itself. It also seemed that there were spy satellites watching Eggman's base as well.

'Bothersome.' Eggman thought. 'All that technology is being wasted! I could put it all to much better use!'  
Eggman stroked his moustache thoughtfully as he continued to think up his next move.

'The poor humans, they rely on those things far too much, just like that thing called the 'Internet'. I mean, all sorts of nonsense is put on that! Like that weird website about 'fanfiction'! Imagine! People wasting their time reading about that blue rodent Sonic, and not about me! It's preposterous!'

Eggman shook his head a little.  
'They use those satellites for communication, television, monitoring the world… All that potential just being wasted!'  
Eggman smirked a little at the idea, when another one came to his head.  
'Wait… It seems that they ARE relying on those satellites a lot!' He thought. 'Hmm… That gives me an idea!'

Immediately, Eggman rose from his chair, and left his studying room in a grand gesture, even though no one was in the room. He walked out the door, his boots causing a sharp clanging sound to emanate every time they took a step. As the Doctor walked, any robot carrying out orders quickly stopped what it was doing, and saluted its creator.

They were programmed to do so of course. Giving robots a degree of free will and thinking could be a dangerous thing. Proof of that was…

_"Hiya Doc!"_ The high-pitched voice of the messenger of the Eggman Empire, Bokkun, came out of the robot that appeared in front of Eggman.  
"…" Eggman said nothing, smiling a little and brushing past the hovering machine.  
_"HEY!"_ Bokkun was insulted by that action. _"WHAT 'CHA THINK YOU'RE DOING?" _

"Sorry…" Eggman said over his shoulder, not really feeling sorry at all. "But I have a plan to put into action."  
_"Huh? Hey, a plan?"_ Quickly, Bokkun put his jet pack into action, flying up and staying level with Eggman. _"Can I help? Huh? Canicanicanicanicani?"  
_"As a matter of fact, yes." Eggman said, trying his best not to be annoyed by the child-like robot as he walked up to a reinforced door that towered up to the ceiling.

The Doctor placed his hand onto the handprint, and waited as the door checked it.  
_"Access granted."_ The door's computer system stated. _"Welcome back Doctor."  
_The doors opened up, and Eggman walked into his command room, with Bokkun following.  
"Decoe!" The Doctor said as soon as he entered. "Bring me my E-Series cards!"  
"_Right away Sir!"_ The golden robot replied, quickly getting up from the small table he was at, and rushing off to get the requested cards.

Bokkun flew over to the table where Bocoe was still knelt on a cushion at. The table had cups, saucers and teapots on it. Odd, since robots don't drink tea. Or consume anything, especially since neither Decoe nor Bocoe have mouths. But enough with pointing out flaws in the plotline.

"_Here are your cards Sir."_ Running up to the Doctor, who was by now sat in front of his main computer, with the deck of cards on a sliver platter.

Without acknowledging the action, Eggman took the cards and pressed a large button on the consol.  
"Computer, I need something capable of collecting satellites without damaging them, AND has the ability to make a quick getaway." Eggman stated, placing the cards into the slot opened up by the button press.

Closing the slot's lid, Eggman reached over and pulled down the handle, activating the 'Robot Reels'. The Doctor sat back and watched as the reels on the computer screen spun, before each came to an abrupt halt on the same image.

"Perfect!" Eggman smiled at the picture, before turning around and throwing his fist up into the air in a victory pose. "Have Gobblein depart immediately!"

* * *

In the underground holding bay of the island, 'Gobblein' aka E-90, was slowly being lifted up to launch position. The robot was strangely constructed, and was mainly painted green. The front had a slanted head with a red tip, yellow 'accessory' headgear, and cold blue eye sensors. On the robot's main body were many holes for firing projectiles out of. Although the central part of it seemed to move a lot more, indicating that the frame around it, which had two large jet engines on the back, was far more sturdier.

As it got into position, large chunks of grass began to disappear on the island, revealing the exit of the launch bay out of the holding bay. A few seconds after that, E-90 flew out of it, its jet engines blazing fiercely. The only thing that showed was the vapour trail leading up into the sky.

* * *

Episode 8 – The X Factor

* * *

Part 1

Topaz slammed her fist against the desk; angry at the report she had received. She had hoped that returning to her post in Area 99, at least for a little while anyway would be a good thing. It wasn't starting well.

It seemed that Douglas is still NOT giving any information about the activities of Sonic. Not to mention that he is STILL denying any involvement with them. The so called plan thought of to keeps tabs on Douglas wasn't going as well as she'd planned. Especially since the house party at the Thorndyke residence a few weeks ago.

After Douglas had left, he had been traced to a bar. By the time Topaz and Stuart got there, he was gone, and had somehow vanished off of the radar. He couldn't have left the city of course, and he was back in the mansion the next day. It was almost as if he had become invisible for a while…

"Calling Topaz, calling Topaz! We have a possible code red situation; over!" Her personal radio crackled into life.  
"This is Topaz…" She responded into her radio. "What's the situation; over?"  
"An unidentified flying object just left Eggman's base about five minutes ago, that's all we currently know. We assume it's some kind of rocket, but…"  
"Okay, I'm on my way to the command room now; over and out." Topaz cut off the voice, before heading out of her office.

'That Eggman's always up to something…' Topaz thought, running down the corridors. Within a few minutes, she was through the doors and in the command room.

"Okay, what are we dealing with here?" Topaz asked, although the tone of her voice made it sound more like an order.  
"We're still not sure yet!" One of the operatives in the room replied. "We can't seem to identify it yet, but we've sent instructions to the spy satellites to look at whatever is up there!" The man pointed to the large map on screen, which showed the satellites as white dots, and the unknown craft as a red one.  
"Wait, so this thing is in outer space?" Topaz asked again.  
"Technically, yes Ma'am."

* * *

_"E-90 is now in position."_ The hollow voice of the computer stated.  
"Well now…" Eggman said, relaxing back in his chair. "Time for a little fun!"

The Doctor reached forward, and pulled down a switch. He watched on the screen as he was shown the results of that action. It triggered the giant 'mouth' of Gobblein to open up. From inside the 'mouth' a long slithering tube with an odd red cap on the end came out.

Eggman smiled, grabbing another switch. "Super… Sweeper!" He said, pulling it down.

* * *

Topaz glanced around her, as alarm klaxons sounded out in the base.

"What the hell is going on now?" Topaz shouted out.  
"Communications are offline!" A voice shouted back.  
"It's the satellites!" Another voice called out. "They're… They're!"

Topaz looked up at the central screen, and noticed that there seemed to be a lot less white dots than before…

"GONE?" She shouted at the screen.  
"Yes… Yes Ma'am…" The second voice confirmed.  
"But… But that's impossible!" She replied, shaking her head in shock. "This can't be happening!"

* * *

But it was happening. The Super Sweeper was collecting all the satellites though the hole in the red cap, down the tube, and into the large storage container that made up the central body of Gobblein.

"Just look at all my shiny new toys!" Eggman laughed as he watched the image of the satellites being collected. "Oh well…" He gave a sigh of disappointment, which was probably phoney. "It's too bad I have to grind them all into robot parts! Who would have thought recycling could be so much fun! AND cost effective!"

Eggman turned around, looking at Decoe and Bocoe, who were knelt on cushions before a table, drink out of cups.

"…What ARE you doing?" The Doctor questioned, a slightly angry, and also a little confused, look forming on his face.

_"Uh…"_ Was all the robots could offer, as sweat drops formed on their heads.

* * *

"My… My God!" The second voice called out. "Its… This thing is making all the satellites disappear!"

Topaz could only frown with a dark look at the image on the big screen.

'Heads are gonna roll when the President hears about this…' Topaz thought. 'And it damn sure ain't gonna be mine.'  
"SOMEBODY ALERT THE PRESIDENT!" Topaz screamed out, causing the men in the room to rush about in panic to comply with her order.

* * *

'I really hope this isn't supposed to be educational…' Tails thought, not impressed by this TV programme Cream and Cheese loved to watch. It was of some strange pink fuzzy creature with blue hands and feet.

"Do you know what I like to do best boys and girls?" The creature asked. "I like to dance! Dancing's lots of fun and its good exercise too! Hey! I've got an idea! Why don't you dance with me?"

The door to the living room opened, and Douglas, dressed in jeans and a T-Shirt that read '**B**eauty lies in th**E** eyes of th**E** beerholde**R**'. Douglas looked at Cream and Cheese, who were trying to dance along with the creature on TV. He shook his head. The Teletubbies were much better. He shrugged his shoulders, and took a seat next to Tails.

Before Douglas could say anything, the door opened again, but this time Ella entered, carrying something.

"Snack time everyone!" She announced, entering the room. Amy followed her in, also carrying a similar item.  
"Here we go!" Ella said, as she and Amy placed the items they were holding onto the table in front of Douglas and Tails, whose mouths practically watered at the sight before them."Ella showed me how to bake homemade Apple Pie!" Amy proudly announced.  
"I think our little Amy here has quite the knack for baking! I might be out of a job soon!" Ella added.  
"Hey Ella." Amy looked up at the maid. "Maybe Sonic will like some pie!"

"Everybody loves pie!" Douglas said. "Either that or Strudel, but it's their decision. Personally, I like both…"  
Tails licked his lips. "He can have the other one…" He thought out loud, reaching out with his hands towards the pie in front of him.  
"Oh no you don't!" Amy stated. "That pie's for Sonic!"

This didn't stop Tails, as he reached out and took a hold of the plate. But in an unfeasibly quick action, Amy tried to whip the plate away from the fox. Due to the fact that Tails still had his hands on the plate, this action caused the kitsune to go flying over the table, across the room, and hit the wall-mounted wide screen TV face first.

"AMY!" Douglas roared, snatching the pie out of her hands. "That was unnecessary, uncalled for, and not very nice either… Consider this a confiscation." Douglas said, before quickly running out of the room with the pie.  
"HEY!" Amy shouted, before Knuckles entering from the open window of the room interrupted her.  
"What's going on here?" Knuckles eyed the room suspiciously, but more so the fox slumped underneath the TV, holding his head.

"Mi…Mister Tails!" Cream said, in a shocked and teary voice. "You… You broke the TV!" The rabbit looked at the static that now replaced the TV show.  
"Chao!" Cheese said.  
"It wasn't my fault!" Tails grumbled. "Amy and her Sonikku…" He added under his breath.  
"That was our favourite show…" Cream said, sadly, as if it was the most catastrophic incident in her entire life.

"Is that all?" Knuckles said, picking up the remote control. "I think I know how to work this strange appliance." The echidna then pointed the remote at the TV set, and pressed a button.

Everyone in the room looked to the television. Nothing had changed.

"Maybe this will work." Knuckles pressed another button. Nothing. Knuckles then pressed all the buttons on the remote, which eventually caused the TV to power off into standby mode.

"I tried." Knuckles shrugged, tossing the remote behind him and sitting down. "Hey, who made the pie?"  
"Now… Now we can't watch our programme!" Cream began crying loudly, and was joined by Cheese.  
"Oh my!" Ella exclaimed.

Through the open window, Sonic jumped in, having been rudely awoken from his nap on the roof by the crying.

"What's going on?" He asked.  
"Oh hey Sonic!" Knuckles said, helping himself to a piece of the pie. "Cream and Cheese are crying about the TV being broken."  
"THAT'S what they're crying about?" The hedgehog asked, not seeing any reason to be crying over such an issue.Knuckles simply nodded in reply, as he took a big mouthful of pie.  
"Hey, is that Apple Pie?" Sonic questioned, noticing the pie and taking a sniff.

"What'll we do?" Amy asked. "Now I can't watch my cookery show!"  
"Or Mrs. Thorndyke in the 'Movie of the Week'!" Ella stated.  
"Or the Martial Arts matinee." Mr. Tanaka added, who had just entered the room having completed mowing the lawn.  
"It's terrible, I know." Sonic said, helping himself to a second portion of the pie, having devoured his first piece whilst the others were speaking.

"_HAHAHAHAHAHA!" _A high-pitched laugh rung out, catching everyone's attention. The owner of the voice, a small purple robot with a mailbag with 'EGG' printed on it, flew in through the open window and landed on the table, beside a half-eaten apple pie.

"Ah!" Sonic exclaimed, quickly jumping behind the sofa, as did Knuckles, whilst the others took similar cover.  
_"That was a disappointing welcome if you don't mind me saying so!"_ Bokkun exclaimed, annoyed.

The door into the living room opened again, and Douglas, carrying an empty plat and a knife and fork, came into the room, and sat down on the sofa.

"Hey!" Douglas exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.  
_"At least someone still cares about…"_ Bokkun started to say.  
"There's still some pie left!" Douglas interrupted, putting down the plate and picking up the rest of the pie.  
_"IDIOT!"_ Bokkun screamed, enraged.  
"…What do you want?" Douglas looked puzzled at the machine.

_"I've got a brand new message for Sonic from Doctor Eggman!"_ Bokkun stated, starting to pull a small TV monitor out of its mailbag.  
"Well where's…" Douglas looked behind him. "…Sonic? What are you doing?"  
"That thing's dangerous!" Sonic stated, pointing at Bokkun.  
"It?" Douglas pointed at the robot with a fork. "Stuff comes out of my ass bigger than that thing!"  
_"Listen up!"_ Bokkun announced, switching on the monitor.

The screen flickered into life, showing the image of Eggman. "Greetings my little warthog!" The Doctor announced. "Sorry it's been so long since my last message, but as you can see I've been a busy little bee! Take a look!"

The image then changed to that of the E-90, using Super Sweeper to suck up satellites.

"Is that thing… Sucking up… Satellites?" Douglas questioned the image he was seeing.  
"That explains the TV trouble." Knuckles stated.  
"It's ruining our TV reception." Tanaka stated.  
"It's not getting married is it?" Douglas asked jokingly.

"Don't get any ideas Sonic!" The image changed back to Eggman. "After all, I'm only having a little fun… So stay out of it if you know what's good for you! As I speak, my E-90 is floating above the stratosphere, collecting all matter of space junk, so I can make more and more of my mechanical friends! Well? What do you say to that?" Eggman challenged, before entering into an egotistical laugh.

"Up yours fatso!" Douglas stated.  
"WHAT?" Eggman spluttered, not expecting any sort of reply, let alone a crude one.  
"Stratosphere? YOU'RE the one visible from space with the naked eye!" Douglas added, flipping the image of Eggman the middle finger.  
"SILENCE!" Eggman roared. "It's just as well this scheme is foolproof! Soon even you'll be obsolete Bokkun!"

Upon hearing this, the messenger began crying out at the thought of being rejected.

"Ha! You suck!" Douglas taunted the robot, putting his right hand on his forehead, giving Bokkun the 'Loser L' sign.  
"Enough!" Knuckles stated, jumping back over the sofa and kicking the monitor off the table. Which for some reason caused Eggman to call out in pain as if he'd been kicked.  
"Right, what's this 'E-90' business Eggman was talking about?" Douglas then asked, before starting to eat the pie he was holding.  
"Maybe that was the robot sucking up the satellites." Tails answered, stepping out from his hiding place. "Eggman calls his robots E-Something, so E-90 will be the serial number of the machine. I wonder what a stratosphere is?" Tails thought aloud.

Almost on cue, Chuck rushed into the room from the outside door. "It's a layer of air miles above us!" He answered the question. "It's as high as the sky!" He added, dramatically pointing upwards.  
Tails frowned, not sure if the answer was a good thing or a bad thing in this situation.  
"We can do without you cry-baby!" Chuck stated, picking up Bokkun by the back of its neck.  
_"No! Put me down!" _Bokkun screamed as Chuck took it outside.

A few moments later, a loud explosion was heard, followed by high-pitched laughing. Chuck then re-entered, visibly the victim of a terrible explosion.

"Ha! Now you suck!" Douglas taunted the man, putting his right hand on his forehead, giving Chuck the 'Loser L' sign.  
"Very funny…" Chuck rolled his eyes. "…But this is serious Douglas! Eggman's causing havoc, miles above anyone's reach."  
"Well, the only aircraft we have if the Tornado…" Douglas shrugged, "…And no offence intended Tails, but I'm not sure that it can reach THAT high."  
"Well…" Tails looked thoughtful, and was about to speak, as Sonic jumped back over the sofa, and the others came out from their hiding spaces.

"Come on Tails!" Sonic stated, giving the fox the thumbs up, and a smile full of confidence. "Why not? I'm game! Come on, let's go!" Sonic had already headed off towards Chuck's lab before he had finished speaking.  
"Uh, okay! I'm coming!" Tails quickly headed after the blue hedgehog.

By the time the others had reached the garage, the Tornado had already revved up, and was heading down the road. Tails was in the pilot seat, and Sonic was in the passenger.

"We can do it!" Tails said, although he may have been saying it a little to convince himself.  
"You bet!" Sonic replied, with total confidence in himself, and his best buddy.

The others could only watch as the 'plane took off and into the air.  
"Good luck you guys!" Amy shouted, waving at the Tornado. "We'll be waiting for you!"  
"Come back safe Mister Tails!" Cream stated.

Knuckles, Chuck and Douglas looked less sure about the success of this mission.

* * *

_"Storage of E-90 has reached maximum safe level."_ The computer's voice informed Eggman. _"E-90 is returning to base."_

The Doctor did not acknowledge this, as he was writing something down on a piece of paper.

"…I'm plotting my schemes…" He thought aloud while scribbling the words down. "…Where ever I go… They're perfect… Uh… Perfect… They're perfect I must say… NO!" Eggman scrunched up the paper, and threw it away, into the large pile of previously rejected ideas.

_"Danger! Possible hostile Aircraft on direct course to intercept E-90!"_The computer stated.  
"HUH?" Eggman spun his command chair around to look at the monitor.  
_"Aircraft classified as 'The Tornado' of Miles 'Tails Prower, ally of Sonic T. Hedgehog."  
_"I warned them!" Eggman stated, typing in commands to the computer. "Gobblein! Zap those meddlers!"

* * *

"Wow! Look at that thing Sonic!" Tails stated, as the Tornado flew closer towards E-90.  
"I see it Tails." The hedgehog replied. "But you know what they say: 'The Bigger they are…'?"  
"The harder they fall?" Tails offered.  
"Naw, 'The Harder they hit'! Let's bust up this robot!"  
"Okay!" Tails said, encouraged by the hedgehog's words.

Suddenly, and without warning, the large central turret placed in the centre of E-90 fired out a large laser beam out of its lift port, followed by similar beams from the central and right ports. All the lasers were aimed at the Tornado.

With all the reflexes and experience of a pilot four or five times his age, Tails was able to manoeuvre the 'plane out of harms way, and still keep a course headed towards the robot.

"Good going little bud'!" Sonic encouraged. "Move in closer!"  
The fox only nodded in reply, focused on reaching the target.

The giant front 'jaw' of Gobblein opened, accompanied by the whirring of gears. With it open, both Sonic and Tails could see the huge red cap of the 'Super Sweeper'.

'What's it doing now?' Sonic thought. Thankfully, Tails anticipated what the machine's next move would be, and didn't break course. It looked like the Tornado would be heading straight into E-90's 'mouth'.

Just when it looked like this, Tails sharply brought the 'plane to the side and out of harms way. A moment later, the robot's 'jaw' snapped shut. Looking behind him, Tails smiled.

"We're moving too fast for it!"  
"Let's finish it off!" Sonic said, smirking.

Tails nodded, pulling the 'plane back towards E-90, preparing to attack the machine from behind.

Quickly, the central turret of Gobblein rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, and began firing at the Tornado again. This time, the gun fired all three ports at once. This caused Tails to bank the 'plane sharply before it got hit.

"I think that was TOO close!" Sonic stated, leaning in closer towards Tails to emphasise his point.  
"Don't worry!" Tails replied. "I think I've got an idea…"

Before Tails could state what his plan was, a rear hatch in E-90 opened up, and thousands of tiny packages flew out, carried by the back draft from the robot's engines.

"Dumping excess luggage?" Sonic asked jokingly, as indicated by the smirk on his face. "Remind me never to fly with Eggman Airlines!"  
"That's no luggage!" Tails called in alarm. "That's…!"

Once again, Tails was interrupted, as the packages began exploding in front of the Tornado.

* * *

"YES!" Eggman called out, punching the air in victory at the images Gobblein's cameras were relaying to him. "Egg-Cluster Bombs! There's no way fox-boy could've avoided that!"

Unfortunately for the Doctor, he was wrong, as suddenly, and with brief trails of flames running of the tips of its wings, the Tornado flew out of the flames of the explosions.

"WHAT?" Eggman exclaimed, as the Tornado flew up close to E-90. "Keep your sights locked on the enemy!" He ordered.

In response, a red target-marker appeared over the Tornado. The target stayed over the 'plane as it began to move out of range and off the screen.

"Where did they go?" Eggman demanded.  
_"Sensors detect enemy craft is currently moving itself under E-90, and will shortly return back into range."_ The computer replied.  
"Follow it then!" The doctor ordered.

As the Tornado came back on screen, this time Gobblein rotated itself to keep a lock onto it. So, and the 'plane circled around and around, the machine spun around and around. Eggman watched this, and as the result of many revolutions, he became extremely dizzy.

"I feel ill…" Eggman groaned, his goggles seemingly showing spirals.

* * *

Tails brought the Tornado out of its motion, leaving the robot spinning around. The young fox smiled. His plan had worked, just as he thought it would.

"Here goes!" He announced, pressing his thumb down on the red trigger button.

The Tornado's guns fired out of the little vent just before its rotor blades, aimed at the E-90. Within seconds, sparks flew off of the central turret of Eggman's robot, followed by a small explosion of fire and smoke.

Satisfied with the first run, Tails flew the Tornado ahead of Gobblein, before bringing it back around for another attack. Again the kitsune activated the guns, firing at the 'head' of the machine. Once again, small sparks flew off, but there was no explosion. The rest of E-90's bodywork was far stronger than the turret had been.

Now it was the robot's turn to change course, banking hard off and turning around. This left the Tornado chasing after it.

"Stay with it!" Sonic shouted, leaning to the side.  
"Just hold on tight!" Tails responded, glancing down to the readings of the 'plane's systems. "We'll catch up with it in no time!"

* * *

"Urgh… Get me another bucket… Just in case…" Eggman groaned, waving his hand in the air while the other covered his forehead. "I still don't feel well…"  
_"Yes Lord Eggman."_ Decoe and Bocoe replied, carrying of a rather full bucket of a recently produced substance from the Doctor.  
"Enough of this…" Eggman glanced at the screen. "E-90, initiate 'Drop and Burn' manoeuvre."

* * *

With a burst of steam and the clicking of gears, the central storage tank of E-90 began shaking. In a few seconds after that, the tank was dropping from the rest of the machine. Carried by the momentum from Gobblein, it began freefalling backwards.

Into the path of the Tornado.

Both Tails and Sonic screamed, and the fox had barely enough time to react to the oncoming green mass. Sharply Tails pulled the 'plane out of harms way, before looking back at the tank now behind him. The fox was very surprised to see two rockets begin firing out of the tank, and propel it into the distance.

"What was that?" Sonic asked, also looking behind him.  
"Beats me Sonic." Tails replied. "But whatever it was, I guess Eggman wanted it intact."

The fox turned his attention back to flying, and allowed the Tornado to travel through a thick cloud formation.

* * *

Eggman watched the monitor once again, and saw the Tornado fly out of some clouds.

"Excellent!" The Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. "Soon E-90's storage tank will return and I'll have lots of lovely scrap to play with!"  
He grinned evilly, placing a hand on a leaver.  
"Now that I have those bothersome twerps right where I want them, it's time for some fireworks!" He said, pulling it back.

* * *

"I thought we were tailing that thing!" Sonic said, seeing Eggman's machine now facing them.  
"It was!" Tails replied.

At that moment, rockets fired out of the missile tubes of Gobblein, coming towards the Tornado. The projectiles whistled through the air as they left trails of smoke behind them.

Tails didn't even have to say anything, or be told anything. He began quickly moving the 'plane around, staying one step ahead of the rockets coming towards him. Thanks to this, the missiles blew up safely behind the Tornado, as it continued towards E-90.

Sonic flashed his trademark grin, patting Tails on the shoulder. The fox nodded in reply, knowing what Sonic was planning. The hedgehog unclipped his seatbelt, and jumped high into the air from his seat. He knew that Eggman would have armed his machine with 'Hedgehog-Seeking' Missiles. Indeed, the next batch of rockets began heading up towards Sonic, and away from the Tornado.

Sonic flipped around in the air, taking himself back downward. He homed in on the first rocket, bouncing off it. This caused the missile to spin around, and explode behind the hedgehog. Sonic did the same with the second one, the jump causing the rocket to fly into the explosion from the first, creating a bigger cloud of flames and smoke than before.

With the third, Sonic spun his legs around in the air, kicking the rocket backwards. The hedgehog watched, his face emotionless with focus, as the missile whirled into the 'head' of the E-90. A large cloud of smoke covering where the head would have been then followed. Sonic smirked, allowing himself to fall safely downwards, and into the passenger's seat of the Tornado.

"No problem!" Sonic stated, clipping himself back in.

But there seemed to be quite a problem, as when the smoke cleared, E-90 was still completely intact. There didn't even appear to be a scratch on it.

"What'll we do now Sonic?" Tails asked, now slightly worried. He was out of ideas.  
"Don't sweat it bud! We'll figure out how to beat this thing!"

* * *

_"Doctor, we have your bucket for you."_ Decoe stated, holding up the item.  
"Don't interrupt me when I'm about to win!" Eggman stated, pushing some buttons on his control consol.  
_"Yeah! Don't interrupt!"_ Bokkun stated, floating over Bocoe's head.  
"That goes for you too bomb-boy!" The Doctor snapped.

Before the messenger could reply, Decoe put the bucket to use, quickly slamming it over the robot and onto the ground. Bocoe then sat on the top of the bucket, trapping Bokkun inside it.

"They think they're so smart, don't they!" Eggman said to himself, ignoring the high-pitched squeals coming from the bucket. "Well, we'll see about that when they get a taste of the Super Sweeper!"

* * *

The large jaws of E-90 opened up wide once again. This time, a crack of electricity came out of the large red cap at the back of Gobblein's 'mouth'. An instant later, another burst. Soon, many flares of electricity came out of the cap, as the Super Sweeper activated. The noise of the Sweeper was tremendous, as it worked powerfully to drag anything in could into it. Of course, with no storage tank, anything sucked in would have to be destroyed.

Its effect was instant, as the Tornado began to get pulled toward the machine.

"IT'S SUCKING US IN!" Sonic shouted over the roar of the Sweeper.

Tails only grunted in reply, his hands locked around the control stick. The fox was trying with all his might to bring the 'plane out of the powerful suction it was in.

It seemed it wasn't working, as the 'plane only budged a little, still being pulled closer toward Gobblein.

Sonic gritted his teeth, small beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. This was defiantly not going how he had planned. What was worse, at least to him, was that Douglas might have been right about the Tornado not being able to handle this.

With another pull, Tails managed to pull the Tornado a little more out of the Sweeper's pull, but still not enough to bring it to safety.

'Come Tails!' The fox thought to himself. 'You HAVE to do this! You CAN do this! And you… You…!'

* * *

Time froze for a moment, as Tails' mind cast itself back many years ago. Way before he arrived on this planet Earth and met Douglas.

It was during the 'Great War of Mobius'. Back then; Tails was just a little kid, longing to be just like Sonic. He wanted to be one of the great Freedom Fighters, like Sonic, and help battle against Robotnik. Not the Eggman of nowadays, but Doctor Julian Robotnik.

Tails could see himself, sat on a little log beside the fabled 'Ring Pool'. The sun was shining down, causing the water to sparkle. A soft breeze rippled through the tall trees, causing the water to ripple. It was a nice relaxing day. One that many of the other inhabitants of Knothole could not enjoy as much as he did.

Then again, Tails wasn't a Freedom Fighter, so didn't have to deal with the stress of missions and all that. His problem was doing enough to convince Aunt Sally that he was ready to do missions just like Sonic.

The young fox didn't understand it then. He was smart, everyone told him so, brave, AND he could fly with his tails. Why shouldn't he go out and help the fight?

Tails sighed, and looked down at the control box he had in his left hand. He had been trying to fix a problem with his R.C. 'plane for over and hour now. It seemed to be a loose screw in the box. The fox had been using a small screwdriver to try and fix the screw back in place, but wasn't having much luck. Hence why the craft in question was sat on the grass beside the log. It seemed that no matter how much he tried, it just wouldn't work.

Depressing to say the least.

The kit's ears perked up, upon hearing heavy footsteps coming down the path towards the pool. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder. The person he saw made a small smile appear for a moment.

"Hi Aunt Bunnie." Tails said, in a clearly depressed tone.  
"Well I do declare!" Bunnie Rabbot, the partly robotisized rabbit, said. She was dressed, as always, in her purple top. No need for any pants or skirts, since her legs were completely metallic now, as was one of her arms. "Ya'll seem to be mighty sad."  
"Yeah…" Tails replied, looking back to his screwdriver.

Bunnie walked over, and sat on the log beside the fox.  
"Another of those inventions of yours?" She asked, looking at the control box.  
"Yeah…" Tails said.  
"An' you've been out here all by yourself tryin' to fix it?"

Tails just nodded in reply. Then a thought struck him, which caused him to quickly look at 'Aunt' Bunnie.  
"Aunt Sally wasn't worried was she?" He asked, sounding a little worried himself.

This caused the rabbit to giggle a little, before resting her hand on the kitsune's shoulder.  
"Naw. Sally-girl's been worrin' about RoBUTTnik, not to mention Suga-Hog…"  
"Sonic?" Tails asked.  
"Your poor Aunt Sally's got it into her pretty lil' head that Sonic spends more time with the 'Underground' than her."  
"Why would Aunt Sally be worried about that?" Tails asked.

Bunnie smiled, shaking her head. She wished for a moment that she could go back to Tails' age, and be naïve about the 'joys' of romance.

"So, what's up with this box of tricks ya got then?" She asked, changing the subject.  
"Oh, it's this little screw…" Tails replied, looking back at the box.  
"A screw loose huh? You know Suga-Hog says that about Antoine sometimes."

That comment made Tails snort out a laugh, which the fox quickly stopped, in fear of getting into trouble. That didn't matter to Bunnie; she'd gained the reaction she wanted.

"So this tiny little screw has taken up your afternoon huh?" Bunnie asked.  
"Yeah, but it's not just that, it's…" Tails started to explain.  
"Ya'll know that all us Freedom Fighters have been mighty impressed, right?"  
"Huh?"  
"All these gadgets you keep on buildin', plus your school work. You're turnin' into one smart kid, ya know that?"

Tails blushed, looking away from the rabbit, getting embarrassed from the complements.

"It's nothing really…" The kit said, still looking away. "…Just a little hobby…"  
'Oh mah stars!' Bunnie thought. 'If that ain't the cutest sight I've eva seen!'  
"You're gonna be a great Freedom Fighter one day." Bunnie added.

Tails' head shot up and looked at Bunnie.  
"You… You think so?" He asked, although his eyes seemed to silently plead for a specific answer.  
"Of course!" Bunnie confirmed, smiling warmly.  
"Wow! Th… Thanks Aunt Bunnie!"  
"Don't worry your little head about it! All ya gotta do is believe in yourself."

'Believe in myself?' Tails thought. 'Hey… Believe in myself…'  
With that, Tails looked back at the control box, and carefully brought his screwdriver up.

Bunnie watched as the twin-tailed fox used the tool inside the box. A few seconds past, with Tails fiddling with something deep inside of the item he was trying to repair.

Suddenly, the tiny engine in the R.C. 'plane started up, before humming into life.

"I did it!" Tails beamed happily. "Did you see Aunt Bunnie? I did it!"  
The smile on his face was so bright now, that Bunnie couldn't help but smile back.

Tails then fixed the back panel on the control box on, and began to work the controls. Soon enough, the little 'plane began moving through the grass, before taking off into the air. Tails kept on smiling as he made the craft fly over the pool and around the clearing.

As Bunnie watched the kit playing, she noticed out of the corner of eye someone. It was Sonic. He was smiling as well, and gave the rabbit the thumbs up. Bunnie winked, and mouthed the words 'Anytime' to him. Of course, Tails didn't see this, as he was too pleased with his own accomplishments.

* * *

Time began to unfreeze, and the fox's mind returned to the situation at hand.

'Come Tails!' The fox thought to himself. 'You HAVE to do this! You CAN do this! And you… You…! You WILL do this! Why? WHY? I believe in myself, that's why!'

With an almighty final tug, the Tornado suddenly pulled free from the Sweeper, and off away from the machine.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief. Self-confidence was a wonderful thing sometimes. All he had to do was perfect it's use.

Sonic quickly wiped the sweat from his brow. He didn't want his little buddy seeing that he was worried for a moment. He glanced over his shoulder, and he sight that greeted him was not what he wanted to see.

"It's coming up behind us!" The hedgehog exclaimed. That was true. E-90, it's massive 'jaws' still open, was now chasing the Tornado.  
"I know a way to shake it." Tails said under his breath.

E-90 followed as the Tornado headed up into the air away from it. On this course, Gobbelin would catch up in a matter of seconds. Tails then sharply brought the Tornado downwards, believing the steep decline would buy him and Sonic some breathing space. This was not the case, as E-90 began heading downwards as well, just as quickly as the Tornado did.

Sensing this plan wasn't working, Tails glanced around. He spied a large formation of fluffy clouds. Without another thought, he brought the 'plane sharply up again, and into the clouds.

E-90 brought itself to a halt, maintaining its position in the air. The machine was thinking through its next move. The loud roaring noise was heard again, as the Super Sweeper activated. This time, streams of white began moving into Gobbelin.

"I can't believe it!" Tails said, extremely surprised, as he looked over his shoulder at what was happening. "It's swallowing up all the clouds!"

Before Sonic, who was also looking back, could reply, something rather catastrophic happened. Something that if you were in the position Sonic and Tails were in, you would never, in a page full of 'ever's, want to happen at that moment.

Mechanical failure.

The Tornado's engine, unable to keep up with the repeated strain of multiple sudden sharp moves, spluttered, as dark smoke poured out from it. When the smoke stopped, rotor blades slowing down followed.

"OH NO!" Tails exclaimed, quickly pushing various buttons on his controls. He knew that without the rotors going at full speed, the Tornado wouldn't be able to remain airborne for very much longer.

Which was what happened next.

The 'plane began falling downward, rotors first, spinning uncontrollably round and around. The screams of Sonic and Tails accompanied this. Tails screamed because he knew they were in danger, so he was once again pulling back on the control stick, trying to bring the Tornado back up. Sonic screamed because he saw that the 'plane would crash into the ocean. Water was his worst fear, so he was covering his eyes as he screamed, praying to the Ancient Walkers for a miracle.

The Tornado continued to fall and spin, all the time Tails working furiously to stop it and bring himself and Sonic to safety.

'Not like this!' Tails screamed in his mind. 'It's NOT gonna end like this!'

The control stick gave way a little, and the Tornado stopped spinning. That was part of the problem solved. The rotors were speeding up slightly, but still not enough.

'Come on… COME ON!' Tails thought again, straining with all his might to prevent a watery crash.  
"COME ON!" Tails roared, pulling back the stick with a mighty grunt.

It was just in time. The rotors spun back at full speed, and the Tornado levelled off, its wheels just inches above the water. The fox panted, sweating heavily, but much more relieved. He gently flew the 'plane up and away from the ocean. He looked back. E-90 was nowhere to be seen. Eggman must have presumed (as he often did) that the job was done as called his machine back to his base.

Tails also noticed Sonic. He was curled up in his seat, his hands covering his eyes, and was visibly shaking. It was the first time Tails had EVER seen him like this.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, concerned.  
Sonic peeked through his gloves, with still frightened eyes.  
"Tails?" He asked, his voice shaky. "What happened?"  
"We made it, but Eggman got away."

Sonic slowly, still feeling the effects of a rare near-death experience, uncurled himself, and looked behind him. He saw the ocean far below them, and no E-90 in sight.

"We failed, didn't we." Tails said, more a statement than a question.  
Sonic sighed, nodding. "Yes." He flatly stated, accepting the reality of the situation.

Silence between the two followed, as the Tornado began the long flight back to the Thorndyke Residence.

* * *

"The situation is far more worse than we thought Mister President." A medium sized man with brown hair stated.  
"Go on." The President said, knowing that his Aide would tell him the truth, no matter how bad it was.  
"Whatever this new machine of Eggman's is, it's a far more dangerous foe than any previous machines." His Aide concluded.

"It has the ability to increase its aerodynamics…" A suited woman started to explain. "…By dumping it's cargo hold, which itself safely transports itself back to Eggman's base."  
"Not to mention the usual offensive and defensive capabilities Eggman's robots possess." The Aide added

The President sighed, before looking at the woman standing looking out of the window.

"You were right Topaz." He stated. "Eggman shouldn't have been taken lightly after the wrestling incident."  
"Like I said, it must have been a fluke." Topaz replied, still staring out of the window. "There's no way any man on this planet could have destroyed a machine like that. Douglas is good against humans, and has a way with animals as well, but against robots…"  
"He has gone after Eggman a few times." The suited women pointed out.

Topaz turned around to face the room.

"With all due respect to your Aide Mr. Wise, to Miss Cooper, and to yourself Mr. President; this is not the moment to be talking about the successes of the past. We have serious problems with right now. This thing of Eggman's has taken all of what the Tornado could give, and didn't even have a scratch on it. And if Sonic couldn't beat it…"

She didn't need to say anything more to get her point across.

"Suggestions?" The President asked.  
The other people in the room, including the President's own bodyguards, just looked to the floor, out of ideas.

The President sighed, before standing up.  
"There's the laser defence system of our military satellites…" he started to say.  
"But Sir…!"  
"I know Topaz, I know. That's why I'm afraid that we'll have to hope Sonic and his animals can come up with something."

* * *

'There's more enthusiasm in a Graveyard…' Douglas thought, comparing the sight of the living room.

Apart from a few words when Sonic and Tails had returned, no one had really spoken. Everyone could guess from the look on the blue hedgehog's and twin-tailed fox's faces.

Failure.

Douglas felt a little bad right now for another reason. He had been right in saying that the Tornado couldn't do it. That fact was achieving nothing. In fact, the situation right now was achieving nothing.

Knuckles was just standing with his arms over his chest. Maybe in meditation or something, it was hard to tell. Chuck was sitting down on the far right of the sofa, spending his time rubbing his temples in frustration. Sonic was up on the roof, lying down and staring at the sky. Mr. Tanaka and Ella were keeping Cream and Cheese busy. Amy was sitting on the far left of the sofa, casting worried glances at the other people in the room.

Tails seemed to be taking this the worst. He'd been sitting in the far corner of the room, a painfully sad expression on his face, staring down at his shoes practically since he'd come back. It was awful seeing the kitsune like this. Usually he was so happy, so get-up-and-go. Now it was so different…

Douglas glanced over at Tails. Then the purple-haired human had to blink and do a double take. It was freaky. He could've sworn that for a moment, he had seen Chris where Tails was sitting.

'That was weird…' He thought.

But maybe that was a sign. It had happened before, on the odd rare occasion. Douglas had always assumed it was just his mind playing cruel tricks on him. But this time… There was something different…

Tails looked up. Douglas was walking over, and was now knelling in front of him.

"Hey." Douglas said.  
"Hey." Tails replied, with much less enthusiasm.  
"Okay, I know you're feeling bad about this whole thing, and I can understand that it can't feel good right now."  
"You do?" Tails asked, a hint of interest appearing.  
"Oh sure!" Douglas sat in front of the fox. "I've had my fair share of losses too."

Now, the others in the room were listening and watching Douglas with interest. This included Sonic, who had just jumped off the roof and was listening through the door.

"I mean…" Douglas continued. "Everyone messes up once in a while. You've just gotta take a step back for a moment, think about what happened, and plan out how to prevent that happening again. I once heard a motto from some club that said 'Adopt, Adapt and Improve'."  
"Okay…" Tails was a little confused now.  
"Okay, forget about that. Here's a better one: 'You live what you've learned.' "  
"Uh…" Tails said, trying to think through what it meant.  
"It means that it doesn't matter how many books or things you read to prepare yourself, unless you experience it, you don't really learn it."

"Oh!" Tails said, understanding.  
"Life is a learning experience! You've got to take the good with the bad, and keep on going! Even if that means changing once in a while."  
"Now Douglas…" Chuck said, standing up. "I know what you're getting at, but we're up against a foe that's more powerful than we thought."

Douglas stood up, and walked into the centre of the room. "So? We've beaten all the other robots before! This is not any different! This is NOT any different!"  
"But how do we beat it?" Amy asked.  
"Isn't it obvious?" Douglas asked, looking around.

He was met with confused looks.

"WEAKNESSES! Our weaknesses and that E-90's weaknesses! Exploit theirs, and prevents ours!"  
Chuck slapped his hand into his face. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"  
"Well think now then! Everyone! Get in here, and let's think this through!"

With that, Sonic burst through from the outside into the living room, and Tanaka, Ella, Cream and Cheese came in from the hallway.

"The problem is that the Tornado's too slow!" Sonic stated, as Tails got up to his feet.  
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Douglas stated.  
"That robot can release its main storage tank to speed up." Tails confirmed.

"Okay, now, how do we combat this?" Douglas asked.  
"Perhaps, much like the battle of the Tortuous and the Hare, slow and steady will win this race." Tanaka said.  
"How will that work?" Ella asked  
"Uh…" Tanaka pondered, a sweat-drop appearing on his head.

"Next!" Douglas said.  
"Let us taunt it!" Amy suggested. "It may become so cross that it will make a mistake!"  
"Like what?" Chuck asked, sounding annoyed at the suggestion.  
"Well…" Amy sheepishly started to reply, before realising there wasn't much more to her plan.

"How can we make the Tornado faster? That is the question we're trying to answer here!" Douglas stated, throwing his hands into the air.  
"What you need to do is crank that bird up a notch!" Sonic piped in.  
"Ahh!" Everyone in the room replied together, agreeing.  
"Good work!" Douglas said to the blue hedgehog, before turning to face the fox. "Tails, can ya do that?"  
"Well, I could try…" Tails pondered, rubbing his nose with his finger thoughtfully.

"What about the Chaos Emerald?" Cream suggested.  
"Chao Chao!" Cheese added.  
"That would not be a wise idea." Knuckles stated, shooting down the idea.  
"Why not?" Douglas asked.  
"Just one Chaos Emerald contains huge amounts energy. It would only take a tiny amount to run the Tornado. All the excess energy would be extremely dangerous, since it would have no where to go."

"I see." Chuck stated, understanding the problem Knuckles was pointing out. "That would make the Tornado liable to explode at any moment."  
"To put it bluntly, yes." The guardian confirmed.  
"Fine. Then we need to find a way to burn off this excess…" Chuck said, before pondering the situation for a moment.  
"You see Tails?" Douglas looked at the fox. "NOW we are getting somewhere!"

"But I don't want to waste all that energy!" Tails stated.  
"Hmm… Good point." Sonic stated. "It could be useful."  
"Not could, would." Knuckles said. "If you're going to use a Chaos Emerald, you might as well use it to its max."  
"Does anyone have any better ideas of how to deal with this energy?" Chuck challenged.

"Well…" Tails said, rubbing his nose again. "We could install… A back-up engine… That way with two engines instead of one, the energy would have another outlet!"  
"Awesome!" Douglas stated.  
"Do you really think that TWO engines could contain that kind of power?" Chuck asked, unsure that this would work.  
"If we want to be Doctor Eggman, than it's sure worth giving it a try!" Tails replied.

"What do you think Knuckles?" Douglas asked.  
"I'm no mechanic, but I don't think that even with an extra engine, the Tornado still wouldn't be able to handle it."  
"What about a jet engine?" Amy suggested. "Isn't that better and faster?"  
"Two jet engines!" Douglas exclaimed. "What about that?"  
Knuckles nodded. "That could work I guess."

"Now hold on people!" Chuck said, waving his hand. "In order to do that Douglas, we'd have to COMPLETELY redesign the Tornado, inside and out!" Chuck turned to look at Tails. "Are you sure that you have the know-how to do that Tails?"  
"Well, I've never had to do anything like this before… But…"  
"You can do it Tails!" Sonic encouraged. "I know it."

Knuckles smirked, nodding in agreement.  
"Mister Tails can do anything!" Cream stated, to which Cheese happily agreed.  
"Oh, I got faith in my boy here!" Douglas said, gently ruffling up the fur on Tails' head. "He got the skills!"

"Well…" Tails was about to say, before he looked at Amy.  
"You can do it Tails!" She said, winking at the fox.  
Tails gulped, before a serious expression came over his face. "I'm sure gonna try." He stated.  
"Come with me Tails." Chuck said, with a sparkle appearing in his eyes. "I've got something that might interest you." He winked at the fox.

Douglas smiled, knowing exactly what Chuck was talking about.  
"In fact, I'm certain it will." Chuck said, grabbing tails by the arm and leading him off towards his lab.  
"What was Mister Chuck talking about?" Cream asked.  
"Oh, don't worry." Douglas said. "Just a man holding on to his dreams…"

* * *

"Where are we going?" Tails asked, as Chuck took him over to underneath the wooden stairs that led up to Chuck's lab area.  
"Just watch." Chuck said, smiling, before putting his hand on a bland-looking brick in the wall.

The brick wasn't bland for much longer, and it suddenly flashed into a green light, before a part of the wall opened up. Revealed was a small metal chamber. Before Tails could question what it was, Chuck had pulled him inside. The eldest Thorndyke then pressed a large button, shaped in a downward pointing arrow.

The door closed, and the chamber began moving down. Tails guessed that this was some kind of hidden elevator. But where did it lead to?

Tails wouldn't have to guess for much longer, as the lift suddenly stopped, and the doors opened up. The fox looked out, but all he could see was darkness.  
"What's this?" He asked.

With perfect timing, bright lights came on from the roof of the room, revealing the contents to Tails. The kitsune gasped, amazed by the sight.

"It's my secret laboratory!" Chuck proudly announced  
"It's amazing!" Tails said, looking at Chuck. "It's even bigger than the one I have back on Mobius!"

"No one part from Douglas knows about this place." Chuck explained. "It's taken me years to construct. I just can't keep away from inventing, and sometimes I need time away from the outside world. Especially when Tanaka is looking to take me to those boring weekly sessions he signed me up for."

There were all kinds of tools, worktops, designs, prototypes, equipment and projects all around. It was a scientist's dream come true. Just ask Chuck.

"I think you'll find everything we need." Chuck said knowingly.  
"Sure!" Tails nodded.  
"All right then, let's rebuild the Tornado!"  
"Yeah!"

* * *

Flip Card 1 - Chuck

Full Real Name: Chuck Thorndyke  
Nickname(s): Professor Chuck  
Gender: Male  
Age: 55  
Likes: Inventing, adventures, excitement  
Dislikes: Short Circuits, unnecessary and expensive entrances, being around old people.  
Identifying features: Spiky grey hair, usually dressed in lab coat

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Topaz

Full Real Name: CLASSIFIED  
Nickname(s): Topaz (codename)  
Gender: Female  
Age: CLASSIFIED  
Likes: CLASSIFIED (although has been rumoured to have shown great interest in the life of Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke)  
Dislikes: CLASSIFIED (although has been rumoured to dislike working with any partners or teams)  
Identifying features: Short hair, wears small earrings, usually seen in full military uniform.

* * *

Part 2

It was almost twenty-four hours. A full day since Sonic and Tails had failed to defeat E-90. Since then, Tails and Chuck had locked themselves up in Chuck's secret lab to remodel the Tornado.

"I know he can do it, but tell me the truth Knuckles." Sonic said, looking out at the sun slowly began to rise up over the mountain. "Do you think Tails can pull this one off?"  
Knuckles, who was standing beside the hedgehog on the roof of the Thorndyke mansion, pondered the question for a moment. "Without a doubt, yes." Was his answer.

Sonic smiled for a moment, before the expression vanished.  
"Why did you ask?"  
"I wanted a relatively unbiased opinion." Was Sonic's reply.  
"Nice to know I'm so neutral around here." Knuckles frowned.

"Well, you're only with us until you can get back to the island, right?"  
"Yes." The echidna didn't even need to think about that answer.  
"So you've not connected with any of us, right?"  
Knuckles' nose twitched slightly. "That's true." He replied.

He had some conflicting thoughts weeks ago about Amy, and focusing his 'protectiveness' that he reserved for the Master Emerald on her. But he had pushed those thoughts way out of his mind. He hoped. As the Guardian of the Floating Island and the Master, he could not risk becoming emotional towards anyone. It would put the Master, and the world, in grave danger.  
'I've been lonely all my life.' He thought. 'Does it matter?'

"Therefore I can count on your view." Sonic concluded.  
"You're strange hedgehog." Knuckles said, hoping to end the conversation.  
"Strange? What can I say, it RUNS in the family!" Sonic said, putting emphasis on the bad pun.  
Knuckles shook his head. "I hate you sometimes…"

* * *

Douglas carefully opened the door, peeking inside the living room. Amy, Cream and Cheese were slumbering on the sofa. They had attempted to stay up all night to see when Tails would finish, but had fallen victim to the dreaded sleep.

'Disgustingly cute.' Douglas thought. 'Hey, I wonder if they'd mind if I woke them up by clanging some pots together…'

Just then, the TV crackled into life, changing from noisy static to a blank white screen. The noise was enough to wake up Cream and Cheese. Cream blinked, before realising that the TV was working again. This made her smile.

What didn't make her smile was the logo 'EGG TV' appearing on the screen.

"Huh?" Amy said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  
"GOOD MORNING!" Came the greeting from Eggman, as he suddenly burst onto the screen.  
"AHH!" Amy screamed, falling off the sofa onto the floor.  
"AHH!" Cream screamed, scared by the sight of Eggman, and nearly squashing Cheese out of fear.  
"THE TV'S FIXED!" Douglas shouted, jumping over the back of the sofa and taking a seat.

"It's time for the one and only: DOCTOR EGGMAN SHOW!" Eggman announced, before the image on the TV switched to a wide shot of his 'Eggman Island' base, with the words 'Dr. Eggman Show' over it.  
"This programme is coming to you LIVE via satellite from a beautiful island in the southern sea!" Eggman added.

Amy blinked in surprise, not understand what she was watching.  
"He's scary!" Cream stated.  
"Nah, most pilot episodes are of this quality." Douglas shrugged.

* * *

"Today's show is brought to you by the amazing Super Sweeper! For a cleaner, safer stratosphere!" Eggman continued to speak over the shot of the island, whilst many robots ran about his 'TV Studio'.

_"Places for musical interlude!"_ Bocoe shouted out, waving a rolled up newspaper as if he was the director. _"Prepare lights and cameras!"  
__"Lights ready!"_ Bokkun announced, screwing in a light bulb into a light, and directing it downwards, ready to switch it on.  
_"Cameras ready!"_ Decoe said, turning the camera he was operating to film Eggman.  
_"Coming to you Doctor in five!" _Bocoe counted down. _"Four! Three! Two! One! CUE!"_

Bokkun switched the spotlight on, and the viewing audience were 'treated' to the sight of Eggman standing in the spotlight, holding a microphone.

"I am the Eggman!" He sang, badly. "That's what I am! I am the Eggman! I got the master plan!"  
He grinned, pointing at the camera. "Ha! Your 'American Idols' don't haveanything on me! Besides, who's the most brilliant scientist in ALL the universe?"

Eggman then spun around on the spot, before leaping forward towards the camera. He came up so close to it, that the image of the left blue lens of his glasses was projected to anyone still watching.  
"Huh? Huh?" Eggman hinted, before taking a step back and smiling again. "Why it's Doctor Eggman!"

* * *

Topaz shook her head, disgusted at the sight of Eggman gloating. It wasn't even funny.  
"Ma'am! We have a situation!" One of the crewmen shouted up to her.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she turned and sat down in the command chair. She looked up at the large electronic map on the main computer screen.

"Situation?" She asked.  
"The enemy hostile has been launched again!" The same man shouted again.  
She sighed. "Then I'm afraid we have no choice. Put me through to the President at once. I need to request permission to launch a counter-attack."  
"Understood!"

Topaz frowned, taking another sip. She secretly hoped Douglas and his animal friends could find a solution, and quickly.

* * *

"SONIC!"

The blue hedgehog recognised the voice, and quickly jumped down off the roof and ran over to Chuck's lab. In a second, he was standing in front of the owner of the voice.

"Did you finish it?" Sonic asked.  
"Yep!" Tails gave the thumbs up. "I sure did! Let's get the others so I can show them!"

Sonic smiled. The tired glaze over his blue eyes, the dirt and oil in his fur, and the fact that his tails were slumped on the ground behind him were obvious signs that Tails had been up all night working on this. Yet he was still eager to show everyone what he'd accomplished.

Sonic couldn't help but feel proud to be this guy's hero.

* * *

Just a minute later, and everyone was standing in front of the entrance to the garage of Chuck's lab house. Lined up side-by-side, as if on parade. Cream, Cheese, Ella, Amy and Sonic had beaming looks of anticipation of their faces, ready to see the fruits of Tails' work. Tanaka and Knuckles looked as indifferent as they usually were, but on the inside they also were excited about this. Douglas had a stupidly large grin on his face, as if he'd just won the lottery. If he had any sort of a childhood, he'd say he felt like a little kid again.

Tails and Chuck were the only ones who were really calm, although Tails was nervous about what the others would think.

Chuck glanced down to the twin-tailed fox, who looked up and nodded to the man. With that signal, Chuck pulled a small remote out of his coat pocket, and pushed the green arrow button on it.

The shock that followed was profound.

The button had activated the lift mechanism, but instead of lifting up the garage doors, the whole BUILDING that contained Chuck's lab began rising up from the ground. A small portion of stonework that had been used as the foundations of the building rose up, but underneath that was something quite different.

Metal support beams, steel bolts, and other mechanical parts were now clearly visible, and still the building rose up higher.

Cream, Amy and Cheese gasped at the sight. Sonic just smiled. Ella, Knuckles and Tanaka's jaws seemed to hit the floor. Douglas continued grinning like an idiot.

As the building rose further, it was now clear that there was a holding bay underneath. Finally, the building stopped moving, and inside the bay contained a sight that blew their minds away.

A large, almost fighter jet craft stood before them. Painted almost completely silver, apart from the yellow nose cone. On the back were powerful jet engines, and the wings of the craft seemed to have the ability to bend in to accommodate the tight space it was in. There were also a number of seats for extra passengers, as well as the front cockpit for the pilot.

Again, no one spoke, embracing the magnificent sight.

"Behold…" Douglas said. "The U.S.S. Mother-Fucker."

"DOUGLAS!" Chuck roared, causing Douglas to fall over and fall on his face in surprise.  
"WHAT? What did I do?" Douglas asked once he got back up, glaring at Chuck.  
"What have I told you about inappropriate language?"  
"…You don't like the word 'behold'?"

"THE F-BOMB YOU DROPPED!" Chuck, Ella, Tanaka, and Knuckles shouted at him.  
"Oh, that!" Douglas said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling sheepishly.

Sonic had turned away from the others, covering his face with his hands so they couldn't see him laughing. Amy looked to be in a state of shock, blinking to try and determine if she had heard what she thought she heard.

Cream and Cheese, being the youngest, were effected the worst. They became frozen, statue like, un-moving.

"Look what you've done to them!" Ella cried, pointing at the rabbit and Chao.  
"Oh come on!" Douglas exclaimed. "If it wasn't going to be me then it was going to be MTV! They're probably faking it anyway!"

Douglas walked over, and lightly prodded Cream on the shoulder with a finger. She promptly fell over onto the ground.  
"…" Douglas glanced around, looking at the disapproving glances. "Uh… She'll… Snap out of it?"

Another silence followed, this time an uncomfortable one.

"Excuse me…" Tails broke the silence. "But what's a 'mother-fucker'?"

This time, everyone's jaws dropped. Except for Douglas, who started punching his fist in the air and running around in victory.  
"I WIN!" He shouted. "I WIN ONE-TO-NOTHING!"

"TAILS!" Amy shouted, shocked.  
"Something wrong?" Tails was confused.  
"That's like, one of THE worst words ever!" Amy scolded.  
"How do YOU know about it?" Douglas then demanded, pointing accusingly at Amy.  
"Um… Uh…"

"ENOUGH!" Knuckles announced, slamming his fist into his hand.  
"Tails, what do YOU call it?" Sonic asked.  
"The Tornado X!" The kitsune proudly announced.

Another silence followed.

"That, my friends, is an anti-climax." Douglas stated.

* * *

"That's the situation Mr. Wise." Topaz confirmed, speaking into the telephone.  
"Okay…" The President's Aide replied on the other end of the line. There was a pause, and Topaz could hear voices. Most likely the Aide relaying information to the President. "…The President wants to know if there's been any further activity with the animals."

"No, nothing." Was the response.  
Another pause followed. "…The President grants permission." The Aide's voice broke the silence.

"Ma'am! The hostile is in position in the stratosphere, on a course towards our military satellites!" One of the workers on the computers shouted out.

"Thank you Sir." Topaz said, before hanging up the 'phone. "Wait for it to come into range before activating the attack sequence!" She then ordered to all those in the command room. "The President wants this thing destroyed, so I want ALL those lasers to hit it at the same time, understood?"

"YES MA'AM!" Was the unison reply to her demand.

Topaz stood, subconsciously straightening out her uniform jacket as she did. She leaned forward a little, resting her hands on the guardrail, as she watched the computer screen image.

In the middle of the screen was the target hostile, Eggman's E-90. The dark red target marker that covered it highlighted it. Surrounding it at most angles were various degrees and types of military satellites. These had green status markers on them. One by one, the green markers changed to blue, signalling that it was primed and ready to fire.

"Target locked onto Ma'am! Ready to launch attack at your command" Was the confirmation Topaz wanted to hear.

She stood up straight, brushing a loose hair back into place, and gave out a quiet sigh. She really hoped this would work, and the fears she had about this manoeuvre were misplaced.

"Fire." She stated, and sat back into the command chair.

* * *

"Thank you, thank you!" Doctor Eggman applauded his own 'singing' talents. "You are still tuned into the unbelievably incredible Doctor Eggman Show! This greatest, and soon to be only TV show that you'll be able to watch!"

Eggman was still having his robots transmit his image to all the televisions in the land. As a result, many had fallen asleep due to the tiresome nature of his 'songs' and the 'stories' of his inventing abilities.

"Now, I will give you all a treat! The next chapter of the utterly stupendous life of ME! Doctor Eggman! This part focuses on why I came about using the nickname 'Eggman'! It started a while ago, when I first started one of my admittedly badly planned ideas known as the 'Dreamcast'. Now, this was…"

Eggman was interrupted by a loud bleeping noise coming from his computer. The noise caused all the robots around to be startled out of their sleep, and crash into various pieces of equipment.  
"Hmm? Complications?" Eggman grinned. "A genius like myself must always be kept on his toes!"

Eggman walked over to his computer, and sat down in his chair. The image showed that the target satellites he was ordering Gobblein to retrieve had defence systems. It seemed they were preparing to attack his machine.

"That would imply that I've done something wrong!" Eggman said in mock offence. "E-90! Prepare the Super Sweeper!"

The doctor watched as his computer showed the jaws of Gobblein open up, and the long Sweeper slither outwards. It extended it its maximum length, before stopping.

"Now let's see what these people are capable of!" Eggman stated, relaxing back in his chair, confident that no harm would come to his robot.

The computer bleeped again, and the image on the screen changed back to that of a wide shot of the stratosphere. Small yellow lines were travelling from all the satellites, heading towards E-90. This was the laser defence system in action. Quickly, the laser beams raced towards Eggman's creation, leaving only mere seconds before they all struck their target from all angles.

Not one laser touched E-90.

In a complete sphere around the machine, the lasers stopped dead just feet away from its body. The energy from the beams crackled around the invisible barrier of the sphere, leaving sparks of yellow energy flashing all around Gobblein.

"A feeble attempt at best my friends!" Eggman grinned. "Your level of technology is an ice age behind mine! Only the Tornado could get through to it, and look at all the good that did! Barely scratched the paintjob! Come on Super Sweeper!" The Doctor announced, pressing a large button. "Show your stuff!"

* * *

"It failed." Topaz mumbled under her breath, watching as the satellites began to be drawn towards Eggman's machine.

"Was that some kind of force field?" One of the army soldiers in the room asked.  
"Whatever it was, it's way more advanced than anything we've come up with!" A scientist next to him stated. "That's some of our top-grade lasers up there!"  
"If they can't cut through to Eggman, then we've got no hope!" The soldier said.  
The scientist grinned. "Don't count on that!"

The soldier raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"  
"You haven't heard the news?"  
"What news?"  
"You've heard of G.U.N., right?"  
"Of course."  
"Well, I've got a friend who's a trainee at their lab on Prison Island. Apparently, they've been retrieving the robots of Eggman's that those animals have been smashing."

"Really?" The soldier was surprised at the news, but not as much as Topaz was, eavesdropping on the conversation.  
"Oh yeah! They've been analysing it. You know, looking for weak points, strengths, stuff they can use for their own defences."  
"Swiping technology off Eggman then?"  
"That's it. Makes sense, try and beat them at their own game."

Topaz blinked, intrigued, yet angry at this news. She hadn't been informed about this. Plus, she didn't like the idea of G.U.N. getting their hands on that kind of technology. Her father had always told her to stay clear of them. He had worked for them as a soldier, and apparently, they had much more than a shady past.

* * *

"She'll be fine in an hour or so!" Douglas said, rolling his eyes.  
"Cream and Cheese haven't blinked for over five minutes." Mr. Tanaka scolded. "I hardly think that qualifies for being 'fine'."

"Can we forget about this now?" Knuckles stated. "We have an Eggman robot causing havoc in the skies."  
"Knuckles is right." Chuck said. "You better get up their quickly and stop this before it gets way out of hand!"  
"Yeah, let's lift off Tails!" Sonic said, giving Tails a thumbs up.  
"Alright!" Douglas said, walking up to the Tornado X and giving it a pat. "We'll be high flying in no time!"

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog looked at the purple-haired human, a little confused. "Douglas, you can't come with us."  
"Will you people get off the swearing issue already!" Douglas said running a hand through his hair. "You guys can keep your cra… I mean, your silly name!"  
"Not that! You know the 'plane's only a two-seater."

Now Douglas looked confused, looking at the Tornado X and then back at Sonic.  
"Dude, that was the OLD Tornado."  
"What?" Sonic didn't understand.  
"I guess I forgot to tell you." Tails said, scratching the side of his head, looking a little embarrassed.

Sonic turned around to look at the fox, still not understanding.  
"I kinda made a couple more changes..." Tails gave a small smile, as he pressed a button on a little pad he held in his hand.

In response, the back glass dome covering at the rear of the Tornado X popped open, titling upwards at an angle.

"First class baby!" Douglas smiled, pointing at the extra seats.  
"You never told me about those Tails!" Chuck said, trying to hide how impressed he was under some faked annoyance.  
"Well, it wasn't my idea." Tails said, still looking a little bit embarrassed. "But it was last night, when…"

* * *

The elevator into Chuck's secret lab opened up, and Douglas stepped out. His attention was instantly caught by the sight of a very impressive aircraft hanging from wires and chains off the ceiling. Douglas whistled. Even though it wasn't completed yet, it looked like it was going to be amazing. Working on one of the larger 'hulls' of it, was Tails. The fox was carefully placing some circuit wiring in place.

"Hey Chuck." Douglas greeted, as the man in the lab coat walked past him.  
Chuck didn't respond, looking the most exhausted that he had been in years. He walked over to beside Tails, looking at the fox.

"Tails…" He began, his tiredness showing in his voice. "You've been working on that all day! Why don't you take a break?"  
"It's okay." Tails replied, not looking away from his work. "I'm almost nearly finished…"  
"Alright…" Chuck said, yawning, and then turning away.

Douglas watched him walk into the elevator, and push the button to return to the surface. When the door closed, Douglas turned his attention back to the fox.

Tails smiled as the wire fitted in place. His attention then turned to the hand gently tapping his shoulder. The fox turned around, and saw it was Douglas.

"Hey man, how's it lookin'?" He asked.  
"Oh, it's fine." Tails replied."Just got some minor adjustments here, then I can work on where the seats are going to go."  
"Important part I guess." Douglas smiled.  
"Yeah, I need to find the right place for me and Sonic so we'll be able to see everything…"

"What, you're still gonna have just two seats?" Douglas asked, his smile fading.  
"Yeah, why?" Tails asked, surprised at the question.  
"Well…" Douglas was about to say something, but he shook his head. "Nah, you don't want to hear it. You and Chuck have got all these plans done probably, and…"

"No, no, it's okay." Tails interrupted. "What's wrong with two seats?"  
"It's just that, well… You've got a lot of guys in your group. I mean, there's you, Sonic, Amy, Cream, Knuckles, plus me and Chuck; so that's a lot of people, right?"  
"Yeah, I guess…"  
"But there's only two seats, so not many people will fly? It'll just be you and Sonic most of the time, right?"

Tails nodded.  
"But if you need to save more people, like there was after we smashed Eggman at the bank, there's gonna be a problem there."

Tails blinked. Douglas had a good point. In that situation, Sonic and Amy had to cling onto the rope ladder out of the 'plane, as Douglas was in the passenger's seat. Although it wasn't that far a distance, it couldn't have been all that nice.

"Look, all I'm saying is that if we need to do another rescue mission…" Douglas explained. "…That some extra seats would be useful."  
"Oh!" Tails exclaimed, understanding.  
"It's just a suggestion." Douglas shrugged. "You don't have to do anything just cause I, you know, said something."  
"No, no…" Tails said, thinking over what Douglas had pointed out.  
"Yeah, well, I'll leave you to it man." Douglas said. "Keep up the good work bud."

* * *

"You thought of that?" Amy asked Douglas.  
"Don't sound so shocked man!" Douglas said.  
"I take it that you wanted to go into the stratosphere then Douglas?" Chuck questioned, tapping his foot on the ground. "I assume that's why you suggested this."  
"That may have been part of it…" Douglas faked an expression of innocence. "But the seating thing is still a good point!"

The look of Chuck's face showed his didn't buy his story.  
"Alright, fine! It was about me going along on this! That's why I said about the seats! You're only jealous that YOU didn't think of it!"  
"That's not true!" Chuck insisted.  
"Oh sure it isn't. Like when you totally didn't want to drive up to Area 99."  
"…That was different."

Sonic frowned, folding his arms over his chest and closing his eyes.  
"Oh come on! Let me go up there with you guys!" Douglas said. "I never get travel sick!"  
"Well Sonic?" Tails asked.

Sonic remained in the posture, before a smile formed from his lips.  
"Just so long as you don't get in the way." Sonic joked, before looking up at Douglas.  
"Deal." Douglas smiled.  
"Alright!" Tails said. "Let's get ready!"  
"I CALL SHOTGUN!" Douglas shouted.

Tails pressed another button on his pad, and the front cockpit opened up. Douglas wasted no time in climbing up and into the front passenger seat, behind the pilot's chair. Sonic jumped up, and then downward, landing perfectly in the first of the rear passenger seats. Tails took up his position easily as pilot.

With everyone in, and safely buckled up, Tails pressed a button, and the glass lowered around the seats. After pressing a few more buttons, and checking some readings, the fox took a hold of both of the control sticks, and lightly gripped the,

"Tornado X ready for take-off!" Tails announced, pushing them forward a little.

The rear engines of the Tornado X flared up, and the craft began moving forward out of the holding bay and down the road from Chuck's lab house. Automatically, the folded back wings snapped outwards, holding into normal position.

Amy gasped, amazed that Tails could be able to construct such a thing. She knew he was smart, but this blew her mind away. She felt a little bad about the pie thing from yesterday…

"Let's clear the runway!" Chuck, who was standing beside Amy, announced.

Chuck flicked a switch on his control pad. In response, the palm trees that lined the road from Chuck's lab tilted away from the road, making the Tornado X's path free from trouble.

"Impressive." Knuckles stated.  
"I can't wait!" Chuck stated, grinning like a child at Christmas. "I'm so excited I could fly!"  
Amy looked a little concerned at the human's statement, but turned her attention back to the craft about to take off.  
'Good luck guys.' She thought.

"You ready Douglas?" Sonic asked, smiling.  
"Damn right I am!" Douglas replied. Tails had built in a system in the craft to allow conversation between both the front and rear compartments, so Douglas had easily heard the hedgehog's words.  
"All right! Let's juice!" The hedgehog stated.  
"Tornado X – Blast off!" Tails announced, pulling back on the sticks.

The engines roared into life, as the loud whoosh of air was heard passing out of them. The Tornado X began quickly moving down the road, picking up speed.

"Here we go!" The kistune announced.

Slowly, the Tornado X moved up and away from the ground at a steady upward angle. Douglas glanced over the side and saw the road moving away from them. Soon enough, the craft had left the runway and was now flying over Station Square.

"Tell Westlife I'm flying without wings!" Douglas announced.  
"Smooth flyin' Tails!" Sonic said.  
"Okay! Get ready!" Tails announced.  
"For what?" Douglas asked.  
"We're about to enter X Hyper-Speed Mode!" Tails replied.  
"Say what now?" Douglas questioned.

The craft whirled, as the 'X-wings' of the Tornado X shifted inward, closing in. This made the craft even more aerodynamic. As a result, the Tornado X raced skyward away from the city at high speed.

Douglas was so surprised that he didn't speak, simply enjoying the sensation. Sonic meanwhile, was smiling. There was no way Eggman was going to win this time.

* * *

"Come on everyone!" Eggman announced. "Let's have a sing-song shall we? Ninety-nine satellites in the stratosphere! Ninety-nine satellites in the stratosphere! And if Super Sweeper should take one way…"

_"Lord Eggman!"_ Bocoe exclaimed.  
"What is it?" The Doctor snapped.  
_"Sorry to disturb you, but something is headed on a direct course towards Gobblein!" _Decoe explained.  
_"Yeah!"_ Bokkun added. _"And whatever it is, it's sure real fast!" _

"But not fast enough!" Eggman said, rubbing his hands together. "I'll teach them to try and sneak up on me! E-90! Blast that annoyance out of the air!"

* * *

"There it is!" Sonic stated, seeing E-90 up ahead of them.  
"Incoming projectiles!" Tails stated.

Similar to when the old Tornado and Gobblein had fought the previous day, Eggman's machine had fired many missiles, aimed to take out Tails' craft. Once again, Tails' excellent flying skills meant that the attacks didn't even come close to damaging the Tornado X.

"All right!" Sonic announced, pushing up the glass around him. "Let's do it!" With that said, he jumped high and out of his seat.

In another move similar to yesterday, Sonic began jumping from one rocket to another. But this time, instead of sending the last one back into E-90, Sonic choose to take a big leap of it, heading straight for the robot.

With effortless ease, Sonic landed down on the green body of Gobblein. He smiled. This didn't last for too long. Looking up, he saw the large central turret, pointing straight at him. It didn't help that it seemed to be charging up as well. Sonic leapt out of the way as a trio of laser beams aimed to take the hedgehog out.

Skidding to a halt, Sonic turned and ran towards the turret. Again it charged up, and this time Sonic leapt high over the beams.  
'Too easy!' Sonic thought. 'Now I just fall down and smash into that thing!'

To Sonic's surprise, the guns of the turret suddenly pointed upward. An unexpected move that the hedgehog was not prepared for.  
"WHOA!" Sonic exclaimed, barely able to twist his body out of harms way as lasers fired up at him.

"Don't worry Sonic!" Tails announced, bring the Tornado X towards E-90, and opening fire with the craft's guns. "I got your back!"

Tails' targeting was spot on, as within seconds, the main turret exploded in a cloud of flames and smoke.

* * *

"WHAT?" Eggman roared. "This can't be happening! There's no way that puny 'plane of the fox's could destroy that gun!"

The Doctor quickly began pulling switches and pressing buttons on his computer.  
"No matter, I'll put an end to that hyperactive hedgehog!"

* * *

Sonic landed safely back down onto E-90. Looking upward, he raised his arm and gave a 'thumbs up'.  
"Thanks Tails!" He shouted, before turning his attention back to the machine he was on, with a serious look on his face.

He was just in time to see a hatch open up, and what looked to be some kind of satellite rise out of it. A yellow laser beam then fired out of it, aiming for the Tornado X. It fired beam after beam up at the craft, which had to fly high and away from Gobblein to stay out of danger.  
"We can't get any closer!" Tails stated, looking down.

"Using the satellites you stole against us? That's low even for you Eggman!" Sonic said, before taking a run along the top of E-90. He then jumped up, spun himself around in a ball, and smashed right into the satellite. The force of his 'Homing Attack' was strong enough to puncture through one side.

The attack caused the satellite to smoke up, at which point Sonic leapt straight up out of it. It exploded behind him, but Sonic was caught in the force of the air being thrown from the explosion, which sent him spinning out of control upwards.

* * *

In the living room of the Thorndyke residence, everyone was watching the fight in the sky. For whatever reason, Eggman was showing the action through his 'Egg TV'.

This allowed everyone to see Sonic regain his balance, and safely land back in his seat in the Tornado X.

"Isn't Sonic the bravest?" Amy asked, lovingly watching her blue hero in action.  
"Mr. Tails is the best pilot ever!" Cream stated, watching the battle with awe.  
"Chao chao!" Cheese added.

"It appears this confrontation is in our favour." Mr. Tanaka said.  
"Looks like it." Knuckles agreed.  
"They're still going up!" Chuck pointed out. "Now we'll see if this Eggman is worth what he says he is!"

* * *

"Get in close!" Sonic said.  
"No problem!" Tails replied, following E-90 through some thick clouds.

After escaping the clouds, the Tornado X easily caught up with Gobblein, and moved up to it. When they were close enough, Sonic again lifted up the glass around him, and leapt out. Once again, he landed on E-90. This time, the speed it was travelling at caused strong wind speed to rush over it. This cause Sonic to lose his balance, and the blue hedgehog had to reach out and hold onto the back wing of the machine to prevent himself from falling.

Now, the Tornado X had overtaken E-90. This allowed Eggman's robot to fire missiles once again. Tails manoeuvred his craft to dodge the missiles, and continued going forward. Distracted by the projectiles, the fox failed to notice that Gobblein had slowed down, allowing the Tornado X to race off into the distance.

* * *

"Well well!" Eggman said. "It seems fox boy has a new toy to play with! Impressive I must say."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "My father's records said that the Prower family were the most intelligent Mobians on the planet. Too bad my daddy had to throw yours into the Void!"

A rather sinister smile flashed over his face. "And that's where he'll stay! It doesn't matter that you never became a Freedom Fighter, but you were on their side. The side that killed MY father!"

The Doctor composed himself for a moment, straightening out his moustache. "That void will stay closed for all eternity. I'll see to it that you'll never meet your family! But for now, lets see you try and top this! E-90! Let's bag us a hedgehog! Super Sweeper!"

* * *

Sonic looked up, still holding onto the wing of E-90. He saw the looming shape of the large red cap of the Super Sweeper coming towards him.

'Oh man!' Sonic thought. 'This ain't cool!'  
"Dude!" Douglas exclaimed, looking behind him. "We've left Sonic behind!"  
"Don't worry!" Tails replied "Here we go!"  
The fox then grabbed a hold of a leaver by his side, and pulled it towards him.  
"Booster switch on!" Tails the announced.

Before Douglas could question what the fox was talking about, the whole of the rear section of the Tornado X shifted forward, and the rear seats moved upward to connect with it. This allowed a rear hatch, previously hidden, to be exposed. It opened, revealing a powerful engine, which instantly sprung into life, and powered the craft into the distance.

In a flash, the Tornado X raced back where it was a moment ago, now heading in the other direction, towards E-90.

Sonic gripped onto the wing with all his might, as the Super Sweeper crackled into life. The hedgehog could feel the air around him being drawn into the red cap. Despite his efforts, the rest of his body was being lifted up from Gobblein's wing. Sonic tried his best to hold on, but he felt his grip beginning to be forced loose…

"Sonic!" Tails called out. "Watch out!" With that said, the fox opened fire onto E-90.  
"I'm not sure he can hear you!" Douglas stated.

If he did nor not didn't matter, as Sonic was grateful to see the Super Sweeper being hit by laser fire from the Tornado X, and then vanish in an explosion.

* * *

"ALL RIGHT!" Eggman roared, seeing his Super Sweeper had just become a distant memory. "Perhaps I've underestimated you and your new transport Tails!"  
_"Maybe that old dude helped him!"_ Bokkun said.  
"Old 'dude'? You mean Chuck Thorndyke?"  
_"Yeah! Him!"_

"Of course! There's no way ONE great mind could possibly match my skills! So, the hedgehog can't even win battles with his own team of pathetic creatures eh? Well, I can play dirty as well! E-90! Drop-and-Burn manoeuvre, NOW!"

* * *

Tails banked the Tornado X around, following Gobblein.

"Yo Tails!" Douglas said. "Check that out."  
Douglas pointed at the central storage tank, which had just disconnected from E-90. Tails smiled, knowing that the robot was trying out run him  
"Just try and get away!" Tails said, pushing forward on his control sticks to give chase.

"Hold up." Douglas had a confused look on his face. "Big green machines with the ability to drop big green containers, and that can fly… Plus those trees bending to allow a makeshift runway… Do you people on Mobius watch Thunderbirds or something?"

This time, Tails was able to catch up with E-90. The fox pulled level with the back wing, and let Sonic jump safely onto the Tornado X. So advanced was the Tornado X, which it then overtook Gobblein, heading higher and further into the sky.

"Welcome back aboard!" Douglas greeted, trying to shout through the glass to Sonic.  
The blue blur didn't respond, kneeling on the Tornado X's body, but visibly shivering.  
"Dude!" Douglas spoke to Tails now. "Either our man out there's suddenly developed a nervous twitch, or he needs a hat and scarf fast!"

"That's 'cause we're close to the stratosphere." Tails explained, still concentrating on flying. "It's fifty below up here, but Sonic can take it."  
"You sure?" Douglas questioned, before turning to look at Sonic. "How ya holdin' up there?" He asked the hedgehog.

Sonic replied by smirking, but couldn't hide the slightly unconfident sweat-drop on his head. He was going to show a thumbs up, but something by his feet caught his attention. The ice forming over his feet and hands that were resting on the Tornado X. Sonic couldn't move, being frozen to the spot.

In fact, ice seemed to be forming over the nose cone and the wing tips of the Tornado X. It didn't seem like it was stopping either.  
"Uh, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but…" Douglas started to say, pointing at the ice forming under the cockpit.  
"Everything's A-okay!" Tails reassured.

Douglas turned around to look at Sonic. "Yo! He says everything's…" The human trailed off, seeing ice travel up and form all over Sonic's body, reaching up to just over his eyes.  
"…A-okay…" Douglas mumbled, not quite believing what he was seeing.

Sonic simply smiled, seemingly ignoring the possibility that anything wrong was going on.  
"A-okay!" Sonic said, before the ice completely covered him.

"TAILS! Right now the in-flight meals are serving Hedgehog Popsicles!" Douglas said, turning around and grabbing the back of Tails' seat.  
"Huh?" Tails did not expect to hear that statement.

Once again, E-90 attempted to take advantage of the target in front of it, by firing more missiles. This time, the Tornado X was aerodynamic enough to avoid these missiles by performing a quick loop-de-loop over them, and then twisting around to bank away from Gobblein.

"Okay, unless we can find some fire or something real fast, Sonic's gonna spend the rest of this fight in a personal ice-age!"  
"Try and think of something!" Tails said. "We've got more missiles coming at us!"

'Okay, okay, let's think about this…' Douglas thought, rubbing his forehead. 'There's gotta be some kinda modification that we can use here to help…' He looked around him, hoping to find something useful. There wasn't anything, only a few buttons to open the cockpit, activate the emergency ejector seats, to call for a ring…

"That's it!" Douglas exclaimed. "What about one of those Power Rings?"  
Tails nodded, pushing a button. He then pressed it again, then repeatedly.  
"It's no good!" The kitsune announced. "The hatch isn't responding!"  
"Probably because the thing's frozen shut!" Douglas stated, looking at the ice over the Tornado X's body. "God damn it!" He added, falling back into his seat in frustration. "Too bad you and Chuck didn't fit in a heating system into this thing!"

Tails gritted his teeth, turning the Tornado X to avoid another batch of missiles.  
'Come on Tails…' The fox thought. 'There's got to be something you can think of to solve this mess!'  
'We need to find a way to burn off this excess…' Tails then heard Chuck's voice say in his mind, almost triggered by needing help to find a solution.  
"That's it!" Tails said, pressing a combination of buttons. "I've got an idea!"

Before Douglas could ask what 'it' was Tails had just thought of, a small drawer opened up out of the back of Tails' seat. In it, was a Power Ring.

"Listen carefully Douglas!" Tails started to explain. "Take the ring, and connect it to the YELLOW cable underneath the seat!"

"Okay!" Douglas nodded, guessing it was better not to question Tails' instructions, since he knew how this craft worked. He leaned forward, and carefully pulled out the yellow cable from where it was inserted under Tails' seat. He leaned back, and then picked up the Power Ring.

Just when Douglas was about to put them together, Tails sharply banked the Tornado X to avoid more missiles. Without warning of the move, Douglas accidentally dropped the cable.  
"Shoot." Douglas mumbled under his breath, reaching back down for it.

"Hurry Douglas!" Tails shouted. "That last one was way too close!"  
"No shit!" Douglas snapped back, grabbing a firm hold of the cable. "Let's see how they like THIS!" And with that, Douglas connected the ring into the cable. He had to look away, as a bright light shined out of the cable's end as a result.

Through the frozen hatch, tiny sparks of ring energy escaped out, and travelled through the ice, and upward. The energy floated over to the frozen hedgehog, and seemed to settle there. Sonic was able to move his head a little, smiling more confidently, feeling the energy travel into him. It was just what he needed, as the ice around him began to gradually melt away.

With a clench of his fist, the ice around his hand shattered away. With a shake of his toes, the ice around his foot broke off. And with a final sharp cry, Sonic stood up, and he was frozen no more.

"Watch out Eggman!" He announced. "I'm all warmed up! Let's go get him guys!"  
"YEAH!" Douglas and Tails said, as the fox again pushed the Tornado X forward into the distance.

Once again, the Tornado X returned, almost as suddenly as it had left, heading towards E-90. The difference this time was that Sonic was filled with ring energy. As a result, Sonic leapt off from the craft, homing in on the latest batch of missiles from Gobblein.

One by one, Sonic targeted a missile, smashed into it and destroyed it, and then moved onto the next one. From the eye, all that could be seen was a blue blur travelling from one explosion in the stratosphere to the next. After all the missiles had been dealt with, Sonic paused in mid air for a moment, looking at E-90.

The robot had its jaws open, seemingly looking to snap the hedgehog up in it. Sonic smirked, spinning around in a ball and then dashing towards it. In a second, Sonic had vanished inside Gobblein's 'mouth', and the robot closed its jaws shut.

What followed next was nothing short of catastrophic for the robot. Sonic rattled around the inside of the machine, smashing from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. He tore through wires, circuits, gears, anything unfortunate to get in his path.

From where Tails and Douglas were, hundreds of tiny explosions began appearing all over E-90, before larger ones followed. Just when nearly all of Gobblein was covered with smoke, a final blue blur burst through it, and straight up out of it.

"That was awesome." Douglas said, shaking his head slightly at the sight.  
"Yeah!" Tails shouted. "Go Sonic!"

* * *

Not a sound was heard, as all those in the Thorndyke living room watched as E-90 disappeared in a large cloud of smoke. The next thing they knew, a large ball of flames replaced the smoke.

It was then the image was replaced by static.

"Aww…" Cream said. "We didn't even get to see the end of the show."  
"Guess I need to call the cable guy." Mr. Tanaka stated, leaving the room.

* * *

Sonic screamed out in joy, freefalling downward through white clouds. He had beaten Eggman once again, but this time it felt so much better and unlike anytime before.

Leaving the clouds, he suddenly noticed a shadow over him. He looked over, and saw Tails and Douglas smiling at him. He returned the smile, before twisting himself towards the Tornado X, and into his seat.

He strapped himself in as the glass lowered.  
"Way to kick Eggman ASS!" Douglas said.  
"Okay guys, let's head home!" Sonic said.  
"No problem!" Tails said, setting a course back to the Thorndyke Residence.

* * *

Eggman looked down at the scene below him. His robots, of all shapes and sizes, were carefully unloading the satellites from the storage container that had been part of E-90.

_"Lord Eggman."_ Decoe said. _"Unloading is nearly finished."  
_"Good." The Doctor replied. "I will examine what treats I have later."

The robot nodded in reply, walking away from the Doctor.

Today hadn't been about a scheme to defeat the hedgehog with, although that would have been a bonus. He now had a fine collection of metal to construct some more machines with, and had once again proved that the defences of these humans were no match to him.

He knew that the parts Gobblein had collected for him would not be enough though. But that could wait for another day. Perhaps next time he would look for materials on a ground level.

Despite being beaten by Sonic in the 'second' round, Eggman didn't feel like a loser at all. Far from it. In fact, this had gone better than he had hoped. He had pushed the hedgehog to the limit, and forced his friends to completely reconstruct the Tornado into something far more advanced.

'That means I need to prepare my machines against it.' Eggman thought. 'A innovator like myself needs to be kept up to date with the latest advancements!' He then smiled darkly. 'Sonic has never been my rival, only a thorn in my side. My intellect far surpasses his. Perhaps Tails will be the one to step up to match wits with me.'

Eggman then laughed, looking up at the ceiling.

"You should've kept you feet on the ground fox-boy!" He said, before turning a leaving the room. Behind him, his robots looked more than confused. Often, they could never understand their master.

* * *

"…I'm telling you guys!" Douglas said. "My man here was THE MAN out there!" He motioned to Sonic. "David Blaine's ice stunt was nothing on Sonic's freeze!"

Sonic wished he could feel better about being complimented, but he was unable to. The effects of being coated with ice in the stratosphere had taken their tool. Which was why Sonic was now sat on the living room sofa with his feet in a basin of hot water.

"Sonic!" Ella said, walking into the room carrying a tray with a bowl on it. "I made my special homemade chilli for you. This will make your tummy nice and warm."  
Sonic smiled. He liked the sound of that a lot.

"You sure taught Eggman a lesson Sonic." Chuck stated, sitting next to the hedgehog.  
"It wasn't me Chuck." Sonic said, waving a figure dismissively. "I just helped out this time. Douglas and Tails were the ones that did it. They were the real heroes."

Upon hearing this, Tails' face lit up with a huge smile. He swelled up with pride hearing this from his hero.  
"Speaking of him, where is Douglas?" Knuckles asked.  
"Someone call?" Douglas voice said, as he entered the room.  
"Sonic was just saying that…" The guardian started to say, before his voice trailed off as he looked at Douglas.

Everyone looked at Douglas. More accurately, what he was wearing on his head.

"M… Mister Douglas!" Cream stuttered.  
"Hey Cream." Douglas smiled. "Oh, you've noticed this have you?" Douglas pointed to what was on his head. The flower crown Cream had made for him. "Well, I never got a chance to put it on the other day, and since this is a celebration and all…"

Cream ran over to him, followed by Cheese, and hugged Douglas. She had small tears of joy forming under her eyes.  
"Hey, there's no need to cry!" Douglas said, looking down at the rabbit.  
"I… I thought you did… didn't like me!" Cream stuttered out.  
"Naw!" Douglas waved off the idea. "I like you! I like all of you guys!" Douglas motioned to everyone in the room.

Chuck smiled, having to hold back himself from crying. This is the first time that he'd ever seen Douglas be overly nice to anyone ever since Chris passed away.

"Let's celebrate!" Amy's voice then announced, drawing everyone's attention to her. She was standing in the doorway, holding a tray full of multi-coloured ice creams.  
"I made these ice creams myself, for the coolest guy around!"

Sonic looked far from comfortable with that idea, the sweat drop on his head being proof of that.  
"That sounds was past Uncool to me." Sonic said.

* * *

Next Episode Preview – Voice-over by Douglas

"You'd think a VIP invite to a fancy opening would be great huh? Not a chance with these guys around! A violent need by a certain Doctor to rip up anything that's bolted down all mean that this holiday is going to be anything BUT enjoyable. But with Sonic nowhere near, this doesn't look good! Plus Amy keeps acting weird… Come to think of it, so is Tails…

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: Sun, Surf and Strife. Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author notes: Hey people! This episode isspecial because it's been uploaded from school! But apart from that, it's still the same good stuff as usual.

The Mouse of Anon- The Underground becomes united in the not too distant future. Not gonna say anymore than that.  
Why-is-buggie-takeN- Check out my profile for the answer to your question. Thanks for the support.

There you go people. I'd better go before my teachers get me in trouble for using up school time. See ya next time!


	9. Sun Surf and Strife

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro

"The new Emerald Coast resort sounds like the perfect place to get away from it all!" Amy said, looking at the leaflet in her hand as if it was one of the most important documents she'd ever received in her life. "You can hang out at the beach! Or float around in the crystal-clear ocean all day long! Then dine as you watch the spectacular sunset!"

The pink hedgehog sighed happily.  
"It sounds absolutely romantic! I wish we were going to the opening party…" She said to the rest of the room.

The group were in Chuck's garage, preparing the Tornado X for the trip ahead. Cream and Cheese were helping Mr. Tanaka pack items into the Tornado X's cargo hold, while Tails readjusted some controls. Sonic was taking a rest on top of a metal storage crate, while Knuckles watched everyone with a look of confusion on his face. This idea of 'Taking a holiday' was very confusing to him. He preferred to stay here and stand guard for the Chaos Emerald in the C.R.A.P.

"We'll have fun at the Thorndyke's villa…" Cream said, looking at Cheese. "Are you ready Cheese?"  
"Chao! Chao!" Was the reply from the Chao.  
"I'm ready too guys!" Tails stated. "My flight plan will take us straight to the Emerald Coast."  
"Just make sure that no ones sees you Master Tails." Tanaka stated. "The Tornado X has attracted a large amount of media attention."  
"They'll be fine!" Chuck stated. "No one will see them as long as they stay in the grounds of the villa."

Suddenly, the side door into the garage opened up, and in stormed a very sour-looking and annoyed Douglas, followed by a concerned Ella, who was carrying a suit.

"I don't care!" Douglas stated. "I am NOT wearing that thing!"  
"But Douglas!" Ella exclaimed, "This is a formal occasion!"  
"I don't care if it's the damn Oscars! There is NO WAY I am going to be seen dead OR otherwise in that thing!"

"Douglas, you know this is an important resort opening!" Chuck scolded. "And since neither your father or mother can make it…"  
"Step-Father and Step-mother!" Douglas corrected. "And don't try the guilt-trip with me! It doesn't work!"  
"…They need you to go in their place." Chuck finished, ignoring the interruption. "I'm sure you won't have to stay long, and afterwards you can join the others at the villa!"

"Beaches. Yay for me." Douglas said sarcastically. "I hate fancy parties, I hate suits, I hate beaches…" He glanced at the people around him. "…And since you all seem to think that this is wonderful, I really despise you lot right now."  
"Oh come on!" Chuck stated. "It's not that bad. You could even give Sonic a swimming lesion."  
"You guys go on without me." The hedgehog said, looking at the other through half-opened eyes. "I'm staying right here."

The statement from the blue hedgehog shocked all of those in the room, bar Douglas and Knuckles.  
"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed. "You mean you're not coming with us?"  
In reply, Sonic jumped of the crate he was on. "Sorry, but I've gotta juice!" He said, before speeding out of the garage and down the road, leaving only a blue trail behind him.

"Guess Mister Sonic doesn't want to go the beach…" Cream said, a little sad.  
"Wow." Douglas stated. "My respect for him has just gone up by one point."  
"What's it on now?" Knuckles questioned.  
"Three and a half points. Still two below that table I knocked over yesterday."  
"That was you?" Ella questioned.

"Why doesn't Sonic want to go to the Emerald Coast with you guys?" Chuck asked.  
"It must be because he's afraid of water." Amy suggested. "He won't go near the ocean because he can't swim.  
"Oh yeah…" Douglas said, remembering the first time he met Sonic – saving him from drowning in the pool. "Almost forgot about that.  
"But Sonic doesn't have to swim." Tails stated. "He could go running on the beach."  
"It's not going to be as much fun without Sonic." Amy sighed.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the car honking. Outside the garage, Tanaka and Ella were in the car.

"Douglas!" Ella called. "We have to leave now or we'll be late for the ceremony!"  
"Perish the thought." Douglas stated, rolling his eyes.  
"Have a good time Mister Douglas!" Cream said, waving happily.  
"Chao Chao-Chao!" Cheese added.

The purple-haired human sighed, shaking his head. He was going to hate today, and he knew it. "I'll see you guys later…" He grumbled.  
"Okay!" Amy replied. "Don't be long!"  
"See you later!" Tails said.  
"And don't be nervous!" Amy added. "That opening party will be just fine!"

"…I hope you all suffer lingering and lonely deaths." Douglas stated, a sense of utter contempt for these animals now taking over, before turning and walking over the car and getting into the back seats.

"Uh, he didn't mean that!" Chuck quickly stated. "Now you guys better get ready to leave. Hopefully anyone watching us will be distracted by Douglas leaving."  
"Okay!" Tails stated. "Everyone get ready!"

* * *

The Tornado X's engine's revved up, and its wings folded out, locking into place. Tails was strapped into the pilot's seat, with Amy behind him, and Cheese in the front of the rear passenger seats, with Cheese in her lap.

From the grass beside Chuck's lab, Knuckles and Chuck looked on. The 'retired' inventor pushed a button on a small control pad in his hand, which caused the palm trees along the side of the road leading up to the lab to tilt away from the road, leaving a clear pathway for the jet-plane.  
"Next stop: Emerald Coast!" Tails announced. "Hold on tight!"

With that said, the Tornado X began to move down the makeshift runway, speeding down it. Even though they were safely behind glass inside the 'plane, all of the animals seemed to feel the force of the acceleration, with fur on their heads being forced to hand backwards as if caught in a strong breeze. This seemed to slightly worry Amy, Cream and Cheese more than Tails, who was used to it.

"Here we go!" Tails stated, pulling back on his control sticks, causing the Tornado to lift off the road, and begin to head skyward. The passengers looked out and down at the ground below them, enjoying the view.

"Guess it's just you and me." Chuck stated, looking at the Echidna.  
Knuckles nodded in reply. "Unless that hedgehog comes back, which I doubt will be for a long time."  
"…I say we raid the fridge." The elderly human announced, before quickly running towards the main house.  
"HEY!" Knuckles stated, turning and chasing after him. "You better not touch those grapes!"

* * *

In the Thorndyke car, Douglas was listening to music from his CD player, while Mr. Tanaka drove, and Ella took up the front passenger seat. Or at least, he did for a moment, before he heard something other than rock music in his ears. Pulling out his earphones, he tried to identify the source of the sound. It didn't take long, as he looked behind him.

He followed the Tornado X, as it flew above the car, and then off into the distance. Douglas couldn't help but smirk at the sight.

"Master Douglas." Mr. Tanaka stated, a very serious tone in his voice. "Remember that you are representing the Thorndyke family on this trip."  
"Yes Sir." Douglas replied, giving a mock salute. "Yeah, I'll represent…"

* * *

Sonic smiled, staring up at the sky. It had only taken him a few moments to arrive here, and he was already enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the isolated field he was lying in. Around him was thick, lush grass, beautiful wild flowers, mountains in the distance, and a small forest nearby.

"Who needs the ocean?" Sonic said to himself, picking up a small flower, and taking in its scent.

* * *

Episode 9 - Sun, Surf and Strife

* * *

Part 1

It had only been about half an hour since the Tornado X had landed at the Thorndyke Villa at the Emerald Coast, and already the furry crew were enjoying themselves and the swimwear especially bought for the occasion.

Cream was having fun playing with Cheese in the water, who was in a Chao-sized rubber ring. Tails was having just as much fun using his swimming skills. Unlike Sonic, the kistune had no problems with hydrogen-two-oxygen, and was an accomplished swimmer. Amy was content with using a pair of swimming goggles, and was examining the underwater sights. The many fish swimming about were more than a little freaked out by the sight of the pink hedgehog.

Amy burst through the surface of the water, taking a big mouthful of air.  
"This place is unbelievable!" Amy stated.  
"It sure is!" Tails replied. "I'm really glad we came."  
"And we'll have even more fun when Mister Douglas gets here!" Cream stated.

* * *

Not that far away from the Thorndyke Villa, at The Français Appelé Hotel, there was a large party atmosphere. The grounds just behind the hotel were full of men in suits, and women in expensive dresses. Some of the most influential, important, and well-known people in the country had been invited.

It was looking like this was the most important event of the year so far, with camera crews, photographers and journalists everywhere, taking all sorts of notes.

All the more reason for Douglas to be worried. However, he wasn't. In fact, he was actually enjoying himself. He'd never lied so much in his life, and gotten away with it!

"Oh you have no idea!" Douglas, dressed in a tuxedo with a purple shirt and blue tie, said, shaking the hand of the person he had just been introduced to. "I've always loved your work!"  
"Oh, you are too kind Mr. Thorndyke." The man replied. "Please send my regards to your father."  
"It would be a pleasure." Douglas said.  
"Mr. Thorndyke!" Another voice called, to which Douglas turned to. "Please, allow me to introduce…"

"It seems Douglas is really getting into this." Ella stated.  
"Just as long as we keep him away from the free wine." Tanaka stated.

"…I heard that you're a professional wrestler." A lady finished speaking.  
"I do the odd match." Douglas joked. "I work for the Station Squared Circled company back in Station Square."  
"Oh yes! That nice man Mr. Stuart was just telling me."  
"…Really…" Douglas said, fearing the worst.  
"That's him, over there." She pointed to a man standing next to a lady, both of whom were familiar to Douglas.  
"Well, I must have a chat with them…" Douglas stated.

"I still say this is a bad idea." Topaz stated.  
"What could possibly be wrong?" Stuart asked. "We've got some agents watching the villa, and we can keep an eye on Douglas here. It's perfect."  
"I still don't like it."  
"You're just mad because you have to wear that dress." Stuart stated.  
"Duh." Topaz mocked. "Did it take you this long to figure it out?"

Stuart was dressed up in a dark suit, not all that different from what he usually wore. Topaz was, reluctantly, in a long blue dress, and had a disgusted look about her towards the whole event.

"Oh no." Topaz said.  
"What now?" Stuart questioned.  
"Douglas, that's what."  
"…Oh." Stuart said, seeing that Douglas was heading towards them.

"What a surprise!" Douglas lied as he approached them. "And what brings you to this event?" He said, looking at Stuart.  
"The, uh, the owner of S.S.C. couldn't make it, so I'm standing in for him!" He said, quickly making up an excuse.  
"Oh really?" Douglas replied, unimpressed, before looking at Topaz.  
"Of course! I mean, as the Chief of Staff, I have several duties…"

Douglas wasn't listening to him, instead turning his attention to the lady in the blue dress.  
"Miss Topaz…" He said. "I didn't think you were the type for this kind of attire."  
"I'm not, but Stuart insisted that for this occasion I put this on." She replied.  
"Same here. Although I must say, you do you good in it."  
She blushed, not expecting the compliment, but not rejecting it. "Uh… Yeah, well, you look good as well, Douglas."

He smiled, extending his hand. "What's you say about dumping creepy here and start having a good time?"  
"Gladly." She smiled back, still blushing.

"…That's not mentioning all the paperwork that I have to work my way through on a daily basis, but I'm sure you were aware of that, right?" Stuart finally finished speaking. "Right?" He said, noticing that Douglas and Topaz were nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Where'd they go?"

If he'd been paying attention, he would have seen that they had walked off, together, far way from him.

* * *

Amy smiled, walking along the bright sand between the grass of the palm tree forest to her right, and the water of the ocean to her left. She'd decided to take a break from playing in the water with the others, and a leisurely stroll seemed to be just what she needed. Plus, it gave her a chance to try out her new pink sandals, a perfect match to her red top and skirt with yellow hearts on.

'Lovely…' She thought to herself, looking out at the calm sea. 'I just wish Sonic was here to enjoy this with me.'

She sighed; closing her eyes and thinking about all the happy moments the two could be having right now.

In her mind, Amy saw that having to chase after her love as he ran away from her as if she was plague incarnate was no longer the case. Instead, their chases would be fun games. The pink hedgehog imagined that she would help her blue hero overcome his fear of water. She'd help him learn to swim. She could see it now, pulling her beloved hedgehog along the water, as he was safely in a giant rubber ring to keep him afloat.

Oh yes, she could see it now…

* * *

The sunset was a thing of beauty to behold. The sun's dying glow lit up the water, giving it a golden glow, unlike anything seen before. It made everything look warm and pleasant. This only added to the romantic feeling in the air.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day for the pink hedgehog.

"Wasn't today just the greatest?" Amy asked, looking at the blue hedgehog sitting beside her.  
"Alright, I'll admit it." Sonic replied. "I didn't think it would be as much fun here on the beach, but I was wrong."  
"I told you so." Amy said, a smile coming across her face.  
"I don't know how you talked me into it Ames." He said.  
"It was nothing…"  
"Actually, I do know." Sonic then said.  
"Huh? Why's that?"

Sonic sighed, looking at his feet, before back at Amy. "Truth is…" He began to say. "I don't think I can ever really say no to you Amy."  
"Sonic?"  
"What I'm trying to say is…"  
Amy looked, blinking, as her blue hero intended his hand to her.  
"Amy Rose, I… I think…"

Amy gulped, slowly putting her hand into his. She had a feeling, but no, he isn't going to say what she hoped he would say, would he?  
"I…" Sonic continued to try and say what he was meaning. "I think I love you Amy."  
Amy blushed, the bottom of her eyes begging to well up with tears of joy.  
"Sonikku…" She whispered.

She then saw Sonic was leaning towards her, his eyes half closed, not looking away from her for a moment. And before she knew it, she was lost in a world of absolute bliss, as their lips connected in the kiss she had always dreamed of.

And was dreaming of now.

* * *

"It would be so romantic!" She thought out loud, the visions of the kiss filling her mind as she continued to walk. "We'd be so happy!"

Amy wasn't so happy, when she was suddenly struck in the head, which caused her to fall flat on her face into the sand.

After a few seconds, she growled, turning her head to look at whatever had dared to do that to her. She found the culprit, a coconut, which had just fallen out a tree hanging overhead. The pink hedgehog got up, looking down angrily at it.

"You…" She said through gritted teeth, as she picked up the coconut. "You… YOU JUST RUINED MY FANTASY!" She roared, turning and throwing it across the ocean in frustration.

She then panted for a few moments, the anger seeping through her. Suddenly, she regained calmness, laughing to herself.  
"Even thinking about my Sonikku can make me crazy!" She joked.

The coconut travelled over the water, before skimming across the waves. Something quite interesting then occurred. The coconut collided with something round and pink that sticking out of the water. The nut flew upwards from the impact, before falling down into the waves behind the obstruction. On the pink thing, a small bruise-like lump the appeared from it, exactly where the coconut had collided with it. Then the pink-thing, which also had a strange red porthole with green glass sticking out from it's top, dived beneath the waves, out of sight.

Amy did not notice this, as her attention was drawn to the sounds of laughter not that far away from her. She turned to look ahead, and saw some human couples were sitting on some rocks just a little away from her.

"Oh, you're so wonderful Henry!" The female of the couple that had been laughing said.  
"No, you are Eileen." The male replied.

Hearing this only made Amy sad, as she wished she could be happy with Sonic.  
"SONIKKU!" She called out to the ocean. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Of course, no reply came. The only sounds she heard back where the squawks from the seagulls flying above the ocean.

Deflated, Amy decided to continue walking along the beach, but with less of a spring in her step than before. By doing this, she heard more of the conversation between the two humans.

"It's so nice to get away from the city out here…" The human called Henry said.  
"I know what you mean." Eileen replied. "Especially from that boring apartment…"  
"It wasn't so boring when Walter…"  
"I thought we agreed not to talk about that?" She interrupted, a playful scolding look on her face.  
"Sorry Miss Gavin…" He replied jokingly.

"Henry, I made something for you…" Eileen said, as she reached into her pink handbag, which Amy, who was now hiding behind the rock just next to the couple.  
"For me?" Henry replied, sounding very surprised.  
"It's nothing really, but I want you to have it…" She said, holding out her hand. "It's a lucky charm, for when you go into the water."

Amy could see that the charm was a piece of woven string, which had little pink shells all around it.  
"Wow… Thank you!" The man replied, taking it. "I'll always ware it, and think of you…"

Seeing this triggered an idea in Amy's head. All she needed to do was find some string and some shells…

* * *

"No, everything's fine here Knuckles." Tails said, speaking into the 'phone. "What about you? … What's that? … You've ordered out for more Grape-Juice and grapes, and Chuck's ordered a case of wine? … Don't you guys think that it would be better not to do that? … Knuckles, all I'm trying to say that is you tend to get a little, 'giddy', after you've had a lot of grapes! … Huh? Oh, Douglas is still at the party thing, and Cream and Cheese have been building a sandcastle down at the beach in front of the villa. … Amy? She's been busy making something…" Tails said, looking over the barrier and down at the patio below.

The twin-tailed fox could see the pink hedgehog sitting on a sun-lounger, as she had been for the past half-hour since she got back from her walk along the beach. She was holding up a bracelet thing she'd made herself out of string and shells, and was examining it in the light.

"…I dunno, maybe it's a girl thing." Tails stated. "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Let me know if Sonic gets back." He added, before hanging up, and heading downstairs to see what was up.

"I wonder what Sonic would say…" Amy thought out loud, while looking at her work.  
"Who's that for Miss Amy?" Cream asked, as she and Cheese suddenly popped up in Amy's line of sight.  
"Uh…" Amy quickly put the charm behind her back. "Oh, nobody…"  
"You didn't make that for Mister Sonic, did you?" The rabbit asked innocently.  
"No! Of course not!" Amy stated.

"Hey guys!" Tails greeted, walking onto the patio.  
"Hello Mister Tails." Cream's attention suddenly switched to the kitsune.  
"Chao-ao!" Cheese greeted.  
"Uh, hi Tails." Amy said, still trying to hard the charm.

"What'cha got there Amy?" Tails asked, noticing Amy was hiding something.  
"Miss Amy made a pretty bracelet for Mister Sonic!" Cream answered for her.  
"Ah." Tails said. "Should've guessed that myself."  
"What do you mean?" Amy asked, a little annoyed at the tone Tails used.

"Who else would you make something for?" The fox stated, shrugging his shoulders. "It's obviously going to be for Sonic."  
"I don't just do things for Sonic!" Amy said.  
"But the things you DO for him matter more, right?"

Amy had no reply for that. Tails hit the target with that one.  
"Figures." Tails said, turning away.  
"Why did you make that for Mister Sonic?" Cream asked.  
"Well, I guess…" Amy started to explain, before something caught her attention.  
'Tails?' Amy thought. 'Did I just hear Tails sigh?'

None of the furries had time to think about anything else. A huge thunderous noise grabbed their attention.  
"CHAO!" Cheese called out in alarm, pointing into the distance.

The rest looked to where the Chao was motioning to, and saw the source of the sound.

* * *

Over in the distance, at the hotel where the opening party was being held, a huge tower of smoking was coming up from the ground.

The explosion was large and scary, and sent many of the guests running for their lives from the smoke that was rising from the ground.

"What was that?" Douglas said, very concerned at what had just happened.  
"This can't be good." Topaz stated.

She was right, as through the thing that had caused the smoke emerged. A large, pink sphere with green 'porthole' eyes, and blue tentacles with sharp red spears on the ends. Someone quite familiar to Topaz and Douglas accompanied this. He was hovering above the creature in his Egg-Pod.

"Eggman!" Topaz and Douglas exclaimed.  
"You people had the nerve not to invite me to this fancy party did they?" The Doctor announced. "Well, that's fine by me! With the help of my E-38, I intend to transform the Emerald Coast into MY kind of resort! All right Octoron! Show these people how we put the 'ON' in demolitiON!"

With the command given, E-38 sent out one of its speared tentacles out, striking into a nearby by boat, innocently moored up by the hotel. The spear created a large hole in the boat, visible as the tentacle quickly pulled out, only to strike another hole, before it pulled out again, before crashing down onto it. The boat splintered in half, sinking below the waves.

This was enough to send the rest of the guests into a complete panic, as they rushed to flee from the carnage that ensued. This wasn't helped by the fact that Octoron sent another boat flying upwards and over the party area, crashing into the side of the hotel.

"They don't teach us to handle this in Army Camp." Topaz stated, shocked by what she saw.  
"You're in the military?" Douglas asked.  
"Master Douglas!" Tanaka called, as he and Ella ran up to them. "I suggest that a honourable retreat is in order!"  
"Sounds good to me!" Douglas replied.  
"Wait! Where's Stuart?" Topaz asked.

* * *

"Hello base!" Stuart said, speaking into the radio of his car, which he had gotten into moments after hearing the first explosion go off. "We have a serious level Code Red situation at the Emerald Coast! I believe Eggman is attempting an assault!"

"Copy that…" A voice on the other end of the radio replied. "What is your and Topaz's situation."  
"I am currently fleeing, uh, I mean, making a tactical retreat to another location, as not to jeopardise my position."  
"And Topaz is with you, yes?"  
"…" Stuart suddenly realised something. "AH! SHE'S NOT HERE!"

"…Sorry, I didn't quite catch that…" The radio said. "Could you please repeat…"  
"Topaz has been captured by the enemy, repeat! She's been captured by Eggman!"  
"Uh… So… We can assume that… Smicktor-Thorndyke has also been captured then?"

"…DEAR GOD! THIS IS WORSE THAN WHEN I WAS IN CHARGE OF COUNTING THE FLORIDA VOTES FOR THE ELECTION!"

* * *

"Alright!" Eggman said, pleased at the work his E-38 was doing. "It's time to bring out my Eggman Corporation E-39 Deconstruction crew!"

Directly out of the water came a legion of robots. Each was of a red square shape, with a single wheel for movement. They had four arms, the lower of which had a tool on the end – a hammer on the lower left, and a drill on the lower right. The upper arms both had claws on them. These robots were also decorated with a white workers 'hard-hat', which only let small sensor eyes show from underneath them.

The robots quickly moved out of the water, towards the hotel. Instantly on arrival, they began to work. Not just at the bottom of the building, but because of the special traction on their wheels, they were able to move up the walls to work of the higher floors.

Drills broke into the thick material of the foundation pillars. Hammers cracked open brickwork and patio tiles. Claws smashed through doors and windows as if they didn't exist.

Barely minutes passed, before the hotel began to shake as a large could of dust formed at the base. It wasn't long before the building began to sink downwards, collapsing from the 'work' done by Eggman's machines.

"Oh man…" Douglas said in a whisper. "This is messed up…"  
"What can we do?" Topaz whispered back.  
"We've gotta find a way to contact Sonic…"

Before either Topaz, Ella, Tanaka or Douglas could react; they were surrounded by a pack of the E-39 robots.

"AH!" Eggman said, bringing his Egg-Pod down to look at the humans. "My first guests have arrived! And I see my Quizons also double as an excellent welcoming party! Well, may I be the first to formally welcome you all to 'Eggman's Scream Park!' Where your first vacation is guaranteed to also be YOUR LAST!" Eggman roared, adding a sinister tone to his voice.

"You want a piece of me Eggman?" Douglas challenged, standing in front of Topaz protectively. "How about you come down here and get some?" He added, before pulling out his brown leather 'fighting gloves' out of his trouser pocket.

Just as Douglas was putting them on, it was at that moment that Mr. Tanaka stepped forward, in front of Douglas, and extended his arms wide.  
"What are you doing?" Douglas asked the butler.

"I must ask you to stand back Douglas." Tanaka said, closing his eyes in concentration. "As your father's loyal and trusted servant, it is my duty to protect you. Even if it means sacrificing myself."  
Tanaka's eyes snapped open, staring up at Eggman with a look of determination in his eyes.  
"It is time for both of us to face out fate." He stated.

Without warning, Tanaka suddenly took up a martial-arts stance, accompanied by his voice, which made an 'OOOOO-OAAAHHH' sound. This was unexpected, and caused the robots to roll back a little. Eggman simply looked confused, as did Douglas and Topaz, who was clinging onto the purple-haired man's arm. Ella looked unimpressed.

Tanaka then switched into a different stance, moving his arms to another position, with an even louder 'OOOOO-OAAAHHH' noise. It was at this point Ella reached over and grabbed Tanaka, pulling him away from in front of Douglas.

"Easy now!" She said. "Tanaka, you aren't even strong enough to lick a stamp!"  
"That's true." Douglas said.  
"We're outnumbered." Topaz said, looking around her. "I don't think an offensive manoeuvre would be a good idea right now."  
"I guess you're right." Douglas replied.  
'That means we'll have to hope Sonic gets here before something serious happens…" He added as a thought.

* * *

"Hey!" Sonic greeted to the room, pushing the door open and waving the flowers in his hand.

The hedgehog was greeted by the sound of utter silence, as the living room of the Thorndyke mansion was completely disserted.  
'Oh yeah…' Sonic thought, while scratching the back of his head with his free hand. 'Everyone's out at the beach except for me…'

Not feeling that discouraged, Sonic walked over to the table in the middle of the room, and placed the flowers he was holding into the yellow vase on it.  
'I bet you couldn't find beautiful flowers like these on the sea-shore!' The hedgehog thought.  
"The mountains are FAR superior!" He said aloud, putting on a posh accent as he said it.

The door from the outside suddenly opened, and in the door way stood and annoyed looking Chuck, and a rather happy looking Knuckles.  
"Ah! Sonic!" Chuck said, entering the room. "You decided to show up I see!"  
"Uh, yeah." Sonic said, not understanding why Chuck was mad.

"SONIC!" Knuckles said in a higher pitch then he usually spoke in, as he stumbled into the room. "Where's ya been buddy?" The Guardian asked, grabbing a hold of the hedgehog and pulling him into a hug.  
"ACK!" Sonic exclaimed, not expecting this. He had enough problems with Amy hugging him.  
Knuckles let go, before leaning against Sonic. "You knows, yous is my bestest friend in the whole world!"

"Hey, that's uh, cool, you know." Sonic said, a little concerned as to where this newfound emotion had come from.  
"Listen man, you HAVE to try some this grape-juice that they've got here!" The Echidna said, holding up a carton of the juice. "This planet has sure got some gooooooooooooood grapes!"  
"Ah!" Sonic said, understanding. "You been on the grapes have you."  
"Yeah…" Knuckles said, nodding his head, before falling off Sonic and collapsing onto the sofa. "Oooh… Pretty roof…"  
"Take a look at this!" Chuck said, switching on the TV.

The TV turned onto an image of an aerial shot of what appeared to be the ruins of some hotel, surrounded by many little moving squares and a big pink blob.

"This Scarlet Garcia reporting live from the Emerald Coast!" The TV reporter's voice announced. "What you are seeing now is the result of a gang of terrible, destructive machines, who have been destroying hotels and resorts all along the Emerald Coast! The situation is growing more and more dangerous by the hour, and this reporter has been told that the military are taking all the necessary precautions to shut down the surrounding area. This includes immediate evacuation orders, as well as…"

The reporter's voice was suddenly cut off, as the image off a laughing Doctor Eggman appeared.  
"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.  
"Where? WHERE?" Knuckles said, attempting to stand up, but only managing to fall back onto the sofa whilst swinging punches into thin air.

"The owners of the Emerald Coast didn't invite me to their little opening event!" Eggman said. "So I took it upon myself to make sure that there'll be no more parties, or anything at all! I've decided to open up my very own vacation destination, and I like to call it: 'Eggman's Scream Park'!"

"_Hey Sonic!"_ A voice suddenly said from behind the blue hedgehog, which caused him to turn around. Sonic found that it was none other than Bokkun, who was reaching into its satchel. "_I've got a special delivery just for you! It's a personal 'Very Unimportant Person' pass for 'Eggman's Scream Park'! Your friend Douglas is already there, and I'm sure he's having a great time! You should stop by, you'll have a real blast!"_

With that, Bokkun pulled out a bomb out of the bag, and placed in Sonic's hands, before quickly flying out of the door, laughing all the way. Sonic looked at the bomb for a moment, confused. Even Chuck had to look over to see what was going on.

"Hey…" Knuckles said, his voice and words slurring. "Don't those things supposed to go boom in your face?"  
The bomb exploded, engulfing Chuck and Sonic in a cloud of smoke for a moment.  
"Hehehehehe!" Knuckles giggled. "I win!"

The cloud settled, and the upper half of Chuck and Sonic's bodies were coated in the dust from the bomb. Sonic blinked, before quickly shaking off the dirt, returning his body to its fully blue self.  
"Oh well…" Sonic said, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess I have to go to the beach after all…"

Sonic then took off out through the door to the outside, and then into the distance. This left Chuck, still partially coated in grey, standing in the living room, realisation still hot reaching him yet. Knuckles on the other hand, was drinking down the rest of the carton, lost in his own little grape-filled world.

* * *

Flip Card 1 – Bokkun

Full Real Name: E-Messenger Ver.00 'Bokkun'  
Nickname(s): Annoyance, bomb-boy  
Gender: n/a for robots  
Age: Not nearly old enough  
Likes: Getting attention, using bombs, delivering messages  
Dislikes: Being ignored/rejected/annoyed/ i.e. anything bad  
Identifying features: A small purple robot, with a jetpack on its back, wears a mailbag with 'EGG' printed on it.

* * *

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Cheese – 

Full Real Name: Cheese the Chao  
Nickname(s): n/a  
Gender: Male  
Age: n/a for Chaos  
Likes: Cream the Rabbit, sweet treats, anything Cream likes  
Dislikes: Anything Cream dislikes, scary noises  
Identifying features: A Chao that wears a red bow-tie, usually seen near Cream the Rabbit

* * *

Part 2

"Miss Amy…" Cream said, cowering behind the pink hedgehog. "I'm scared…"

Amy didn't say anything. Instead, she raised the binoculars up to her eyes and looked through them, examining the source of the smoke that was in the distance. She gasped at what she saw.  
"It's Eggman!" She said.

Amy saw the Doctor in his Egg-Pod, hovering over his robot minions, as they seemed to be tearing down and removing all the metal parts of structures. They were also constructing some very crude looking and twisted versions of fairground rides.

"Get out of the way!" Tails' voice announced.  
Cream, Cheese and Amy looked around to see Tails bringing the Tornado X up to where they were. They stepped aside to let him come up.

"What are you doing Mister Tails?" Cream asked, concerned.  
"We've gotta do something!" The kitsune replied. "Douglas is out there, and I've gotta save him!"

Before Tails could press the controls of his craft, his attention was suddenly diverted to the binoculars coming towards him. Tails just managed to catch them. The next thing he knew, Amy was climbing up the side of the Tornado X, and was sitting in the passenger seat behind him.

"Amy!" Tails exclaimed, surprised at the sudden movement. "What are you doing?"  
"Sonic's going to show up…" Amy stated, a serious look in her eyes. "…But if he doesn't, then Douglas is going to need all the help he can get."

Tails gulped. He'd never seen Amy as serious as this before. He also knew that there was no way he could say no to her.  
"Okay." Tails said, turning his attention back to his controls. "Here we go!"

The glass around the furries came down, locking into place. The engines of the Tornado X then flared up, and in an instant the craft rushed along the beach, before taking off into the sky, heading to battle Eggman.

This left Cream clutching on tightly to Cheese, as she stood on the sand, watching them leave.  
"I hope Mister Tails and Miss Amy make it back safely…" She said.

* * *

"Work faster!" Eggman roared, shouting down at the many E-39 class robots. "Don't use too many nails and bolts! Get all that metal into the underwater transporters, and don't forget to water down the cement! I want these rides to be the most dangerous in the universe!"

Strange looking structures had been made, some resembling roller-coaster rides, while others looked more like torture equipment. One particularly worrying sight was that of a mountain that had Eggman's face on it, so it looked like a hybrid sphinx.

"The situation appears to be worsening." Tanaka stated, watching the construction with Ella and Topaz. "This would not have occurred if Sonic had joined us."  
"I hope the others are okay at the villa." Ella said.  
'Where's the backup?' Topaz thought, glancing around her. 'Stuart better have a very good reason for not being here when I catch up with him.'

The sound of a cork popping off then caught Topaz's attention. Turning around, she saw Douglas, holding a newly opened bottle of champagne, sitting on the ground against an upturned table.

"What are you doing?" Topaz asked, walking over to him.  
"I found a crate full of this stuff." Douglas explained. "Seems a shame to let it all go to waste."  
"You're thinking about drinking at a time like this?" Topaz was confused at how anyone, considering the circumstances, could be so calm right now.  
"Please…" He said, before taking a mouthful. "Sonic and the others will be here at any moment and save the day, just like always."

It was at that moment a blue flash suddenly came out of nowhere, and seemed to rush past a tower being worked on by Quizons. A second passed, then the tower began to buckle, before collapsing with an almighty crash into the ground, leaving only a cloud of smoke where it once stood.

This caught everyone's attention, as they looked to the cloud. When the dust settled, broken robots were all over the ground. As was a smirking blue hedgehog.

"Told you so." Douglas said, standing up and glancing at Topaz, before taking another drink of champagne.  
"Well well." Sonic said, looking around him. "Seems like someone's been a party crasher."  
"Go get him Sonic!" Douglas shouted out.  
"Will do Doug!" The hedgehog replied, flashing a thumbs-up at him. "I just thought I'd drop and visit…"

Sonic was interrupted by the sound of crashing metal behind him. Turning around, he was confronted by the sight of the E-38, and Doctor Eggman.

"You fell right into my trap Sonic!" Eggman announced with an arrogant smile. "It's a well known fact that you can't swim, so I just HAD to lure you to the ocean!"  
Sonic gritted his teeth, taking up a fighting stance.  
"Octoron! GET HIM!" Eggman roared.

Instantly, E-38 launched two of its tentacles towards the blue hedgehog. Sonic ran forward, preparing to meet the incoming attack. Sonic dodged the right tentacle as it lunged towards him, and jumped high over the left. Once airborne enough, Sonic spun around in the air, curling up into his familiar ball shape. He headed downwards, homing in on Octoron. The hedgehog was positioned to come crashing down onto the pink body of the machine.

E-38 pulled back its tentacles, and lifted one of them upwards. Sonic saw this and smirked. He would simply smash through it and continue on to hit Eggman's machine. So the hedgehog did not change his attack plan.

The battle then turned in Eggman's favour.

Instead of breaking through the tentacle, Sonic found himself only bending it. The thick, rubbery material had absorbed the blow, and remained intact.  
'Huh?' Sonic thought. 'No way!'  
It was only getting worse for him, as the tentacle then wrapped itself around his body, binding him. Sonic struggled, pushing against the tentacle's grip, trying to free himself.

Eggman laughed.  
"You won't get away!" He said.  
"Oh yeah?" Sonic responded, still trying to escape. "Just watch me!"  
"As much as I'd LOVE to do that, I've waited long enough to put an end to you." Eggman said. "Octoron! Give this rodent a 'bath' he'll never forget!"  
"No!" Sonic exclaimed, but it was too late.

E-38 plunged its tentacle down into the ocean, taking the blue hedgehog under the water's surface. Sonic screamed out in the water, thrashing about and kicking with all his might. He was trapped in his greatest fear, and if he didn't find a way to break free soon, he was going to die. He knew that was guaranteed.

"SONIC!" Douglas exclaimed, dropping the bottle to the ground and running towards Octoron. He was held back by Ella, Tanaka and Topaz before he could get anywhere near the machine. "Let me go!" He demanded, trying to get past them. "I'll save him!"  
"No Master Douglas!" Tanaka said. "It's too dangerous!"  
"I don't give a damn!" The purple-haired man replied. "I'm not gonna let no friend of mine die!"

Eggman continued to laugh heartily, taking much enjoyment out of watching his blue nemesis suffer.  
"Bring him up Octoron! Let's see what he has to say."  
E-38 then brought its tentacle out of the sea, and brought it up high, so that the hedgehog and the doctor were level.  
"So hedgehog! How do you like the sea?" He taunted.

Sonic coughed and spluttered, spitting out water from his mouth. He gasped for breath, looking at the Doctor with eyes full of anger.  
"It's delightful…" The hedgehog sneered.  
"Good!" The Doctor said. "I'm giving you a choice Sonic: You can either forfeit the fight, or you can forfeit your LIFE!"

Sonic was caught in an extreme Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict situation. If he surrendered, it would give Eggman the victory, and the world would be his. By doing that, Sonic would be letting down his friends, his family, and everything he stood for. If he didn't surrender, then he would face almost certain death by drowning. That would quite possibly be the worst possible demise he could ever face.

Whatever choice he made, there would be no good coming from it. But he knew in his heart, that no matter the circumstances, he would never surrender. Especially not to Eggman.

"Do your worst." Sonic challenged.  
"Gladly." Eggman replied. "Let's see how long you can stay under."

Once again, E-38 brought the tentacle holding the hedgehog down towards the water. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit the hedgehog. Just as Sonic was level with the ground above the water, he managed to get a foot on it. That was all the hedgehog needed. With a burst of speed, Sonic ran with all his might against the strain of the tentacle.

Even though Sonic didn't break through it, he was still out of the water. He still ran with all his might, and seemed to be gaining some ground, as Eggman's machine was gradually being dragged away from the water.

"DON'T LET HIM SLIP OUT OF YOUR GRIP!" Eggman roared down at E-38. "HAUL THAT HEDGEHOG BACK INTO THE WATER, AND THIS TIME DON'T LET HIM UP FOR AIR!"

With the command given, Octoron reached back with the rest of its tentacles into the ocean. The machine pulled itself back into the waves, tilting on the edge just above the water. Then, E-38 moved back into the water.

Sonic glanced behind him, and saw that the machine was now gradually pulling him back, heading towards the ocean. Determined not to let Eggman win, Sonic pushed himself even harder, sweat beginning to form on his head.

"Oh come on Octoron!" Eggman said. "Flex those tentacles! Finish him off!"

* * *

"There's Eggman!" Amy said, pointing down at the small hovering Egg-Pod around the pink machine in the water.  
"It looks like that machine has got someone…" Tails started to state, before Amy cut him off.  
"SONIC!" She exclaimed, pushing the glass around her up.  
"AMY!" Tails called in alarm. "WAIT!"

The pink hedgehog ignored him, jumping out of her seat down towards the ground.  
"LET HIM GO!" She demanded, pulling out her Piko-Piko Hammer, and holding it ready to strike out.

She continued to head downwards, now focused on the black tentacle that was holding her hedgehog hero.

With an almighty war cry, Amy brought the hammer down hard on the tentacle, snapping it in half. The end that was connected to the machine now created a whiplash effect, snapping back and striking Octoron. The impact of this was sufficient to send it toppling backwards into the ocean, disappearing in a large splash.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Eggman exclaimed in disbelief, clutching his head with both hands. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"  
"Keep your rotten robots away from my Sonic, or you'll be sorry!" Amy said, still holding her hammer, looking up at the Doctor

Sonic easily broke free from the now lifeless tentacle that held him. He spun out of it, and continued running, this time towards a green ramp.

"Thanks Amy!" He called over his shoulder, before running up the ramp way, and along the partially completed loop that it leads to. Jumping from the end of the loop, Sonic was able to head high into the air, and head back in the direction he had just been in.

Rotating in the air, Sonic now looked forward. He saw the Tornado X in the distance. A hatch opened on it, and something fired out of it. The hedgehog smiled. He knew exactly what Tails was sending him. A gold Power Ring

Sonic reached out with both of his hands as the ring came towards him. This made it very easy for him to catch it, and grip it in his hand. In flash of light, the ring's energy rushed through him. Soon enough, Sonic was spinning rapidly in a ball, hurtling downwards in the Spin Dash Attack.

The tentacles still left on E-38 shot out of the water, their pronged ends digging into the ground. These helped pull the machine out from under the surface. Unfortunately, Octoron would have been better off staying in the drink.

Swiftly, Sonic crashed into the pink main body of E-38, crashing a hole deep into it, before crashing straight through the other side and up into the air. It wasn't long before Sonic against punctured through the robot's outer shell. This time Sonic did not instantly break out of it.

Like a pinball bouncing off bumpers, the hedgehog began slamming into the walls of Octoron, causing the round body to poke out where it had struck. Sonic attacked so quickly that the machine seemed to swell up to more than double its original size, before Sonic burst out once again.

This was too much for the machine to take, as it toppled backwards back into the sea, and sank below the surface, dragging its tentacles with it. A few brief seconds passed after E-38 disappeared under the water. Then an explosion tore up through the waves, signalling that Octoron was no more.

"NOOOO! NO NO NO!" Eggman screamed in anguish, thumping a closed fist onto the side of his Egg-Pod. "I HAD HIM BEAT!"  
"You see that?" Douglas said, jumping up and pointing at the explosion. "You can't even drown him! He keeps going!"  
"Now that is something." Topaz whispered under her breath.  
"It means our dry-cleaning will be sky-high." Tanaka stated flatly.

Sonic spun out of his ball shape, and landed squarely on the ground, looking up at the Doctor with a victorious smile on his face. He glanced at his hands, seeing the glow of the ring's energy fading away. He also noticed some drop of water on his gloves, so quickly shook his whole body free of water.

'By the Walkers…' Sonic thought once he'd finished drying himself. 'That was WAY too close!'  
"SONIKKU!" Amy called out happily, grabbing the blue hedgehog and hugging him tightly.  
"ACK!" Sonic exclaimed, trying his best to gently push her off. "Lighten up, yuk!"  
"You won this time!" Eggman called down to the two hedgehogs, causing them to look up at him. "But I'm not beaten yet!"

With that said, Eggman took his Egg-Pod away from the see, over the smoke where the explosion had been, and away over the sea.

"Yeah, right!" Sonic said with a knowing smirk, watching the Doctor escape. He then turned his attention to the pink hedgehog, which had released her grip of him thanks to the distraction of Eggman. "Ames, what you did there was crazy!"  
"I know…" Amy replied, with a dreamy glint in her eyes. "But you make me do crazy things!"  
Sonic laughed uneasily at this, a strange stereotypical sweat-drop of worry appearing on his head.  
"Uh… Yeah, well, thanks anyway…"

Sonic was saved from the uncomfortable (but only to him) situation when Tails brought the Tornado X down to land on the now open space where the hotel was before. Jumping out of the craft, Tails quickly ran towards the two hedgehogs.

"What's that?" Topaz asked, pointing to the Tornado X.  
"Oh, just Tails' new shaft-shifting hyper-speed jet-aircraft called the Tornado X." Douglas said. "Faster than a blink of an eye don't 'cha know."  
Topaz' jaw hit the ground. "Did… Did you say… Shape shifting?"

"Hey guys!" Tails said when he reached the other furries. "You okay?"  
"Yeah, no problem." Sonic replied. "Thanks for the ring bud'!"  
"No worries." The kitsune said.  
"Well, I'd better get going. I don't want to hang around all this water for any much longer…" Sonic stated, turning away from Amy and Tails.  
"Hey, wait!" Amy called, causing Sonic to look over his shoulder at the pink hedgehog.

Amy reached into a pocket in her dress, and pulled out a small bracelet of string, decorated with pink shells. She held it out in her hands.  
"Sonic, this is a bracelet I made for you to protect you in the water." Amy said.  
The blue hedgehog blinked, turning around and looking at what Amy was holding.  
'Oh yeah, it's REALLY not for Sonikku…' Tails thought as he rolled his eyes.

Sonic was confused. He hated the water; everyone knew that, so why would he ever need something for when he was in it? Plus, it was pink. Not exactly his favourite colour. What would be more useful would be some kind of anti-falling-into-water device.

'But I can't just turn this thing down…' Sonic thought. 'It would break her heart. Maybe I can find some way out of having to put it on…'  
"You made this all by yourself?" Sonic asked.  
"If you wear it, it'll bring you good luck." Amy replied.  
"…Really?" Sonic said, obviously sceptical.

Amy simply nodded in reply, closing her eyes and looking away. This didn't hide the obvious blush on her cheeks.  
"Uh…" Sonic said.  
'Oh, this is uncomfortable!' Tails thought, sensing that Sonic wasn't going to want to accept this gift from Amy.

As it turned out, Sonic wouldn't need to, as a sudden jolt ran through the ground, causing Amy to fall forward into Sonic. The blue hedgehog was able to catch her, but not the bracelet, which went sailing up into the air, and onto the ground away from the furries.

"The bracelet!" Amy said, reaching out to get it. But Sonic, sensing something dangerous was about to happen, held her back.  
The hedgehog was right, as suddenly one of the Quizon came crashing down into the ground, smashing the bracelet and causing its shells to scatter across the ground.  
Amy looked distraught. "I… I can't believe this!" She said.  
"What is that?" Tails said pointing at the Quizons.

One after one, E-39 robots locked onto the one below it, forming a vertical chain or machines. After the robot had become almost as high as the hotel that had been destroyed, the last robot clicked into place, and four extra long arms formed out of it. The top two arms had large claws on the end, and the bottom two had a large drill on one, and a heavy-looking hammer on the other. Out of the top of the robot tower also came a thin head on a long neck, with two pincers on it for a mouth.

The Egg-Pod returned into view, hovering next to the new machine.  
"I told you I wasn't through with you…" Eggman announced. "Didn't I Sonic? My Quizons have formed up to create Serpenter, and it's ready to take you out!"  
In response, Serpenter began moving its body from side to side, almost like a snake.  
"Impressive, isn't it Sonic?" The Doctor gloated.  
"Well, that thing is pretty tall…" Sonic said, unimpressed. "But I bet in a battle it comes up short!"

Amy wasn't paying attention, simply standing and staring at what was left of the bracelet she had made for Sonic.

"Oh really?" Eggman said. "Ha! You'll need much more than speed to survive this robot!"  
"Oh yeah?" Sonic replied. "Yo, fang-face!" He shouted up at the robot, clapping his hands. "Let's see how quickly you can slither!"  
Sonic then jumped away from Tails and Amy, and away from the newly formed robot.  
"After him Serpenter!" Eggman ordered, pointing to where Sonic had jumped to. "Eliminate that blue bozo!"

Following the order, Serpenter began turning its body, before moving towards where its blue hedgehog target was.  
"Come on Slow-Poke!" Sonic taunted, jumping up and down while clapping his hands over his head. "I'm right here! Come get me!"  
"I hope Sonic knows what he's doing…" Tails thought aloud, before he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Amy was kneeling down, picking up the remains of what was left of the bracelet. Only some of the shells remained intact on the broken string, the others were smashed into tiny pieces. She scooped it up into her cupped hands, and held it. Tears were forming at the bottom of her eyes. She was on the verge of crying.  
"I guess…" Amy whispered to herself. "My charm wasn't so lucky after all…"

She had really hoped that this would work. That this little bracelet was a key to unlock the door into Sonic's heart. Now it was nothing, much like how the pink hedgehog was feeling just now.

It was then Amy broke down completely, tears breaking through her closed eyes, falling down her cheeks. Some tiny drops even fell into her hands, lying next to the bracelet.  
"Amy…" Tails said, coming beside her and kneeling next to her. "What's wrong?"

Just as suddenly as she had started crying, Amy stopped. Tails was about to ask her again, when he noticed her clench her fists, tightly holding the pieces of bracelet. Her eyes then opened. Although they still showed the glaze of tears, the kistune saw something.

There was a fire there. A burning in her eyes.

"I'm fine Tails…" Amy whispered, but in a tone unlike any the fox had heard her use before. "Just fine…"  
Tails had a feeling Amy was going to do something, so wisely backed away from her.

"All right Serpenter!" Eggman said. "You know what to do! Put the squeeze on Sonic and then toss him into the sea!"  
"Ha!" Sonic replied. "I'd like to see you try!"  
"Now…" Amy said, pulling out her Piko-Piko Hammer. "NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"  
"…Huh?" Eggman said, looking down over his shoulder at the angry pink hedgehog.  
"…Wha?" Sonic said, confused.

"DON'T MESS WITH ME!" Amy screamed, taking a run towards Serpenter. She jumped up into the air, raising her hammer high, before bringing it crashing down with an almighty thud onto the 'tail' of Serpenter.

The machine seemed to give out a robotic cry of pain in the form of gears whirring, as it reared its head back.

"…Whoa…" Was all Sonic could say.  
"Oh my!" Eggman said, looking distinctly worried about what was happening.  
"Hell hath no fury…" Douglas whispered, watching the scene unfold.

Serpenter turned its attention to the pink hedgehog that was standing on its tail. It raised it weapon-arms up, preparing to attack. Amy growled, swinging her hammer around her, smacking dead centre into the vertical segment level to her. The force of the blow was enough to send the segment flying out from the robot, and cause all the parts above to fall downward and lock into place to fill the gap.

Amy swung again, taking out another segment. Then again, and again, and again. Piece by piece, Serpenter was very quickly being felled, losing its height advantage as the hedgehog wielded her weapon.

Everyone around this scene could only watch in shock as Amy viciously attacked the robot.  
"Oh no!" Eggman exclaimed, sensing all was lost. "I'd better get out of here!"

Amy paused for a moment, seeing that she had now brought the head of the robot level with her. With a final powerful blow, Amy brought her hammer down on it, flattening Serpenter's head. The pink hedgehog followed up by jumping onto the head and stomping on it.

Unable to take anymore, Serpenter's head suddenly popped off, propelling Amy up into the air. Although shocked for a moment by this, the pink hedgehog saw an advantage, turning around and looking up.

Eggman knew this wasn't good news when he saw a very pissed-off pink hedgehog coming towards him wielding a hammer. Worse was to come, when they got level, and Amy swung her weapon with all her might into the Egg-Pod, sending the Doctor screaming downward into the water.

After hitting the ocean, the Doctor disappeared for a moment. He reappeared however, when the Egg-Pod uncapsized itself. Now Eggman had an unhealthy meeting with the sea, as he coughed and spluttered.  
"My Egg-Pod!" He exclaimed. "I just had it washed this morning… Uh oh…"

Eggman noticed that Amy was now heading downwards towards him, with her hammer poised to strike out. He could only scream in alarm, before the two connected.

* * *

Back on the shore, everyone, including some of the original party guests, now returning to see what was going on, was now by the water's edge, staring out at the large splash of water that appeared from Amy connecting with Eggman.

"Amy!" Sonic said.  
"Someone help her!" Ella exclaimed.  
"What, in this suit?" Douglas stated.  
"Master Douglas has a point." Tanaka said. "Dry-cleaning can be very expensive."

Sonic looked down, staring at the water. He knew what he had to do here, but he just couldn't do it. He almost died a few minutes ago in that stuff…

"AMY!" Tails finally roared, unable to take any more waiting, as he dived into the water.  
"Huh?" Sonic said, surprised at the action. "Tails?"  
"I can't believe it…" Topaz said. "That fox can fly, invent new kinds of 'planes, AND swim?"  
"Awesome, isn't it?" Douglas said, smiling. "YOU GO TAILS!"

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, taking a few steps back from the water.  
'Yeah…' He thought. 'Go for it Tails.'

* * *

Amy was sinking below the water's surface, all of her energy now gone from attacking Eggman.

'Is… Is this it?' She thought. 'At… At least I did all I could… Even though I never did give him this bracelet…' She held onto the piece of bracelet tightly in her hand. '…Wait…'

Her ears picked up something through the water. Something was swimming towards her. She half opened her eyes, trying to make out who or what it was.

Through the bright light of the sun shining through the waves, she could only make out a shadowy outline heading towards her.

'Is it… My hero?' She thought, before she closed her eyes again.

* * *

It was a dream, a golden fantasy. They were both laughing, as they ran along the warm sands of the beach. Sonic ran ahead, looking over his shoulder at Amy, who was giving chase. Unlike the usual times, they were playing a game of chase.

So it seemed anyway, until it was apparent that Sonic was getting away from her.

"Hey!" Amy called out. "Sonic! Wait up!"  
Sonic glanced over his shoulder and smirked, before turning his attention to the path ahead.  
"Hold on!" She called out again.

Before Amy knew it, the blue hedgehog was gone, leaving only a trail of dust behind him. Amy stopped, looking at the sand ahead. She sighed. He'd run away again…

"Amy…" A voice said behind her.  
She turned around, and smiled at the speaker.  
"Hiya Tails." She said, trying to mask her sadness.  
"Sonic ran off again, didn't he?" Tails asked, guessing from the look on her face.

"Yeah…" Amy replied, looking down at her feet. "I just don't know why. Is it because I'm a bad person?"  
"No! No, of course not!" The kitsune answered, taking a few steps towards her. "You're a wonderful person! I mean, you're charming, caring, and obviously loving! It's like what I've told you before: Sonic's a fool not to see who you really are!"

Amy smiled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks at the twin-tailed fox's words.  
"Tails, you are best friend a person could have." The pink hedgehog stated.  
"It's nothing really…" Tails said, looking at his feet now. "I'm just telling the truth…"  
"Aww, come here you…"

Amy pulled Tails into a hug, and the two embraced. Amy could always count on Tails being there for her, even if it was just for a little heart-to-heart.

Something in that moment surprised Amy though, as she had never noticed it before. She didn't know if it was just because of the way the sun was setting, or the fact that it was only them on the beach, but something about this hug seemed very… Special…

"Miss Amy! Are you awake?"

* * *

"Miss Amy! Are you awake?"

Amy opened her eyes, being brought out of the dream by the familiar soft voice. She blinked, trying to understand what was going on at that moment.

"Everyone!" Cream announced. "Miss Amy is awake!"  
"See?" Douglas, who was now wearing clothes he was more used to wearing, said, walking over with Topaz, equally regularly dressed, to the sun lounge Amy was on.  
"I still say a hospital would have been better." Topaz replied.  
"…Where am I?" Amy asked, still looking at the sky.

"You're back at Mister Douglas' villa." Cream answered.  
"Yeah, we brought you here after you're suicide dive into the water." Douglas answered.  
Amy sat up, looking at the rabbit and two humans.  
"Who brought me?" Amy asked.

"Me, Tails and Topaz here." Douglas stated, wrapping an arm around Topaz's shoulder.  
"That's right." Topaz added, wrapping her arm around Douglas' waist. "In the Tornado X of course."  
"Is… Is Sonic okay?" Amy asked, concerned.  
"Yes, but he went back home." Cream said, a little sad.

"Oh…" Amy said, disappointed.  
"He said something about 'not wanting to see an ocean for the rest of his life'." Topaz explained. "Not surprising really."  
"Don't worry about him." Douglas said. "He's probably ordering out for Chilli-Dogs as we speak."

Another thought suddenly occurred to Amy, and she looked at her hand. It was empty.  
"The bracelet…" She said. "It's gone…" She closed her eyes, looking as if she was about to cry. "I made it just for him, and now it's gone…"  
"What was it Miss Amy?" Cream asked.  
"It… It was a good luck charm… To protect him in the water… But I guess he had good luck anyway…"

"Wait… Did you mean that thing with the pink shells?" Topaz asked.  
"Yes!" Amy exclaimed. "Where is it?"  
"Tails had it last." Douglas said, thinking. "Yeah, he said you were holding it when he pulled you out…"  
"What?" Amy said. "Tails did what?"

"Oh please!" Douglas said. "You don't think it was Sonic who saved you, do you?"  
"Well…"  
"Sorry to disappoint you…" Topaz explained. "But Sonic's fear of the water took a hold of him. He didn't step into it."  
"Oh, but our boy Tails represented!" Douglas said smiling. "He jumped in like swimmers at the Olympics!"  
"Mister Tails is the bravest!" Cream stated.

"Tails… Tails saved me?" Amy asked, surprised.  
"Totally!" Douglas answered. "The kid's a real hero! Hey, there he is now!" He said, pointing up at the roof on the villa. "Yo Tails! Amy's awake!"

Amy looked up, and saw the twin-tailed fox. He was looking out across the sea, over to where the hotel used to be. There was something about him that was far different to anything that she'd seen in him before.

There was a confidence about him, a sense of accomplishment.

"Thank you Tails!" Amy called up to him.  
Tails looked down at her, and smiled, giving a thumbs-up.  
"No problem Amy." He said. "Anytime."

It was then that Amy noticed something else. More appropriately, something on him. Tied around his wrist with another piece of string to secure it, were the remains of the pink-shell bracelet that Amy had made.

Amy couldn't believe it. Someone actually wanted it; even through it was meant for Sonic.  
'I guess it's more use to Tails…' Amy thought. 'Since he's in the water way more that Sonic ever will be…'

It seemed amazing to her that Tails, someone who wanted to be just like Sonic, could actually be that, and then more! She kind of always figured that Tails could do that, she just didn't know when.  
'Wow…' Amy thought, still staring up at the kitsune, who had now turned his attention back to the ruined hotel. 'I never realised that Tails could be so amazing… As well as cute…'

Amy quickly blushed, covering up her mouth, even though she hadn't said anything verbally.  
'I didn't just think that, did I?' She thought to herself. 'Why did I think that? I mean, it's true though, but I don't mean it… Do I?'

Tails smiled, as he looked over to the remains of the resort.

'Congratulations Miles…' He thought to himself. 'Today, you've taken one step closer to being what you've always wanted to be…'

He then looked at the bracelet on his wrist.  
'Maybe even a step closer to her…'

* * *

Next Episode Preview – Voice-over by Douglas

"Tails has found a Chaos Emerald at the Baseball Stadium! The only problem is, Eggman's grabbed it! Now we're in for the game of our lives, with the emerald as the prize! But how can our unlikely baseball team possibly beat Eggman's robots? And can we trust this new furry 'mercenary'?

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: A Proper Ball's Up. Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author Notes: Once again, I present another episode of what will be the most diverse adaptation of Sonic X since anything! At least that's what I'm hoping for. This episode was to do just to change and add stuff in. Plus, it now means we are nearing the endo of the current storyline!

Julayla - The other Freedom Fights will appear. Sleet and Dingo might go in, if I can find a use for them. Nic will not be appearing, that's a fact. But Fang aka Nack... Well, stay tuned for the next episode...  
mariarobotnik- Thanks for the support, and I hope you liked this episode.

Right, I'm off to force myself to do revision for a History exam! See you next time!


	10. A Proper Ball’s Up

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro

It was a cloudless night over Station Square. It allowed the bright full moon to look down upon the packed streets and busy roads. It had been a lazy day of sunshine just before the sky turned dark, so there was a strong sense of peace and tranquillity.

Unless you were currently a male wrestler with purple hair, or a top female government & military agent; and were standing outside a pizza parlour.

"So, we're just going to stand outside all night then?"  
"What do you suggest then, Mister '4GOT10'?"  
"NOT standing outside for a start Miss Topaz!"  
"Yes, well, considering the circumstances…"

"What circumstances? I thought we were supposed to be on a date!"  
"Oh, and how many dates have you been on then, pray tell?"  
"…Two."  
"Two?"  
"Including this one."

"Oh."  
"And how about you?"  
"This, uh, this would be my… My first."  
"Your first?"  
"Yes."

"Okay, so, we basically are trying to go on a date, but neither of us has a clue about dating."  
"That sums it up."  
"…This is getting really uncomfortable, isn't it?"  
"Yes, very much so."

"Well, uh… Any ideas?"  
"I was hoping you would come up with something."  
"Ah."

An uncomfortable silence of awkward glances then followed between the two, and it was quite a while before Douglas picked up the courage to speak.

"We… We could always go back to my place. I mean, I'm sure Ella would cook something up for us and…"  
"That sounds great, let's just get out of here!"  
"TAXI!" He called out, putting a hand in the air.

* * *

Far away from this was a far calmer scene. Flying across the night sky was the Tornado X, and its twin-tailed pilot. He looked down at the readings on his controls, and smiled.  
'Wow…' He thought. 'The old Tornado would never have run this well! I wish I would have installed the Chaos Emerald sooner.'

He glanced out the window, gazing out at the lights of the city. He decided just to take it out on a short flight to see if there were any bugs that needed to be worked on. As it was turning out to be, there seemed to be none.  
'This has to be about the smoothest flight I've ever been on!' He thought again.

As if fate was waiting for just the right movement to involve itself in the world, just after that very thought, something grabbed a hold of the kitsune's attention. The Chaos Emerald, currently placed in a special panel on the craft's controls, was glowing. The energy from inside it seemed to be reacting to something.  
'Has it picked up something?' Tails thought, before something quite worrying occurred.

The Tornado X began rock and tilt as a result of the emerald's reaction. The craft had been designed to adapt the energy from a 'dormant' Chaos Emerald, so it was unable to fully deal with the excess currently being produced.  
'Oh no!' The fox thought, pulling on his control sticks. 'I can't control it!'

Despite the fact that the craft was set on autopilot, it was now heading off course, away from the outskirts of the city, and over the tops of the tress of a forest area.

Tails looked down at the Chaos Emerald again. This time, its glows were becoming stronger and more frequent. It was as if the emerald was suddenly acting like a mini-radar system.  
'Is it pulling me off course?' The question was directed to himself. 'But why?'

He looked up, and saw what appeared to be a very large open-air building in front of him. Looking down, he could tell that it was a baseball field  
'Wait, maybe it's another Chaos Emerald!' He thought, something triggering in his mind.

The kitsune had no time to think about that though, he had to pull the Tornado X out of the steep decent it was now in. The alternative was ploughing nose cone first into the turf.

He pulled back his control sticks sharply, just as he noticed someone running onto the playing field below. Whoever it was seemed to be waving his arms, either to get his attention or, more likely, to get him to pull up.

Luckily for both the fox and human, that was just what happened. The craft went out of its decent just moments from possible impact, and was now quickly heading upwards.

The kitsune glanced over his shoulder back at the baseball field.  
"I've got to go down there!" He thought aloud

Back down on the field itself, the man who had just been waving his arms watched he craft in amazement and confusion. In all his years, he had never seen anything quite like that.

* * *

Compared to the flight problems he had just previously had, Tails found it quite easy to land the craft on the grass next to the building. Jumping out of the cockpit, he looked up at the big sign over the entrance into it.  
'Diamond Stadium…' He read the sign to himself mentally. 'Sounds interesting.'

With that in mind, he kicked his tails into gear, spinning them rapidly around like helicopter rotor-blades, and took off the ground. He then headed forward into the stadium to investigate what could have caused the Chaos Emerald to react like that.

He started to fly inside, before he settled himself onto the ground after realising the situation. He was in a very dark corridor. That didn't seem like a good place to be using his tails. So instead, he started to carefully creep along it.

After all, he was all alone in a strange place. Not the most ideal territory to be charging in at full speed ahead. In fact, he was starting to get a little nervous.  
'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…' He thought. 'I could go back and tell Sonic and the others about what happened, and then we can all…'

Something then diverted the fox's attention. It was not a light at the end of the tunnel, but the light coming from the top of the stairs he had now reached.  
'What's that?' He thought, beginning to climb the steps upwards.

When he reached the top, he had to quickly shield his eyes from the bright light that struck his vision. After keeping his eyes shut for a good few moments, he carefully looked out through a gap in his hands. What he saw made him open his eyes wide and stare in awe.

He was looking out at the baseball field he had just flown over. The seats opposite him were far away were numerous, meaning that the stadium could contain thousands of people. The light that he had seen came from the floodlights at the outer corners of the stadium.

"WOW!" He exclaimed. He had never seen anything quite like this before. He knew that he really had to take a look around.

Spinning his tails around once more, he took to the air, before squarely landing on home base.  
'This is what a baseball field is like huh?' He thought, taking a walk along the white line to first base 'I've never played baseball before. Dirt-hockey plenty of times, but never…'

Tails then noticed that he was not alone on the field. There was a middle-aged man trying to start up a driveable lawnmower over at the other end of the field. He was wearing a blue jacket, underneath which was a white shirt and a lilac tie, along with cream-coloured jeans and an orange and blue baseball cap with the letter 'D' on it.

'Maybe that's the guy I saw earlier?' Tails thought, walking towards the man.  
When he got there, the man was still trying to start up the machine.

"Uh, excuse me Sir?" The fox said, trying to get his attention, but wasn't heard thanks to the noise from the engine. "Hello?" He tried again, but still no response. "YO!"

That did the trick, as the man looked up from what he was doing, and saw the two blue eyes of the twin-tailed fox looking innocently up at him.

"Ah!" He exclaimed, suddenly crouching down behind the lawnmower. "Keep away!" He was already a little worried after the near-crash experience minutes ago.

Now Tails was a little worried. He didn't mean to scare anyone.  
"I'm sorry! It's just, I was just in my 'plane and the Chaos Emerald started glowing and; don't worry mister, I won't hurt 'cha!"

The man stood up a little, looking over his machine at the fox.  
"Could you repeat all that again please? You lost me at 'plane…"

* * *

After five minutes of careful explaining, all the feelings of apprehension between the two were gone. They were now sat underneath the big scorecard used for the baseball matches.

"That's sure some story little fella!" The man said. "I would have never guess it was you flying that 'plane up there."  
"I'm sorry if I frightened you." The kitsune said. "But I've never seen a stadium as pretty as this one before. You know, the grass is practically glowing!"  
The human smiled. "Thanks for the complement! Lots of folks say that the turf here at the Diamond Stadium is the best in the world! That makes me happy, since I've been the groundskeeper here for over thirty years."

"Thirty years?"  
"You bet!" The man then turned his head to look out at the field. "Only I'm afraid that today's my last day at the old place."  
"Huh? How come?"  
"The owner of the Diamonds wants to build a new indoor stadium with artificial turf. So this old place is going to be demolished. I tell you, leaving this place behind feels like the end of an era…" He said with a sigh, before looking back at the fox. "By the way little fella, did you mention something about an emerald?"

"Yeah!" The kitsune said, before pulling out the green Chaos Emerald he'd had hidden under his tails. "You see, I'm looking for an emerald just like this one. It's called a Chaos Emerald."  
"A what? Hey, wait a minute…" The man then reached into an inside pocket in his jacket. "Is this what you're looking for?"

Tails gasped at what the human showed him.  
"AH! That's it! That's a Chaos Emerald."  
"I saw it lying beside the dumpsters outside the stadium a couple of weeks ago…" The man said, holding out the blue emerald opposite to the green one the fox held. "I had no idea what it was…"

Before he could continue to speak, something interesting happened. Both the blue and the green emerald suddenly began to glow and shine with Chaos Energy.  
"Whoa!" Both of the emerald holders exclaimed, looking down at the gems.

Without warning, a ball of light appeared around both of the emeralds, and a bright white pillar of energy shot out from its centre into the sky.

* * *

From all around the city, the solid white column could be seen. Traffic stopped in the streets as people got out of their cars and stared at the sight. Pedestrians on the sidewalks stopped walking to point at it.

"Yo Scarlet! Do you see that?"

Scarlet Garcia looked to where her cameraman was pointing to, and nearly choked on the slice of pizza she was eating at the sight.

"What do you make of that?" He asked.  
"Get the van ready." She stated. "I smell a story!"

* * *

Not only could the light be seen from the city, but from the surrounding area as well. In fact, it had caught the attention of someone sitting on the branch of a tall tree on the edge of the forest furthest from the stadium.

"What is that light? Hmm… Somethin' tells me this I gots to check out!"

* * *

"_Doctor Eggman!"_ Decoe called out. "Doctor Eggman! You might want to take a look at this Sir!" The robot was pointing at the image on the computer screen, which showed the white light pillar coming from Station Square.

"This better be worth it…" The Doctor grumbled. "I'm missing that interesting 'Jackass' show on that 'MTV'. It's a perfect example of how moronic the people on this planet are… What? That light! I know that light, I've seen it before!"  
_"It appears to be emanating from the 'Diamond' baseball stadium in Station Square."  
_"A stadium you say? Fascinating…"

Eggman then went out of the command room, and into his own personal living quarters that was directly connected to it. He walked over to a desk covered with some dusty plans, and opened up a drawer. In it, contained a baseball bat, a baseball, and a catcher's glove.

He smiled, taking the baseball and holding it up to his eyes.

"I have a feeling that there's an emerald in the 'diamond'."

* * *

Episode 10 - A Proper Ball's Up

* * *

Part 1

"This is so romantic!" Amy stated, looking almost dreamily at Topaz and Douglas, who were sitting together at the table.  
"There is absolutely nothing romantic about this situation." Douglas replied, pointing a sausage at the pink hedgehog.  
"I mean, two people in love, and dating!"  
"If we knew how to do date…" Topaz rolled her eyes as she said this, while Douglas laughed at the comment.

Amy, Cream, Douglas, Cheese, Topaz, Knuckles, Sonic and Chuck were all sat around the dining table, eating the meal prepared by Ella.

"Chao-Chao!"  
"Here you are Cheese." Cream said, handing the Chao another slice of bread.  
"You should lay off this 'loving' business Amy." The purple-haired human stated. "It's unhealthy."  
"Not for me it isn't!"

"He means for Sonic!" Knuckles stated. "When you squeeze the life out of him in one of those hugs of yours."  
"What do you mean? My Sonikku likes my hugs, right?"  
"Uh, well, the thing is Ames…" The blue hedgehog started to say.  
"Oh please! There's more chance of Cactus Jack winning the Nobel Peace Prize than there is of you and Sonic happening!" Douglas said, shaking his head.

"WHAT?" Amy exclaimed, clearly shocked.  
"I agree." Chuck said under his breath.  
"We need to get you people with other dates." Douglas added.  
"I tried relationships before." Sonic stated. "It didn't work out."  
"THAT'S an understatement." Knuckles said.

"Right, first of all we'll get you away from Sonic…" Douglas pointed at the pink hedgehog. "And hook you up with… With…"  
"You didn't think this through, did you?" The echidna asked.  
"Shut up! I've watched Big Brother, I can do this stuff! We'll put you with… I've got it! Amy and Tails! That'll work!"

Cream let out a shocked squeak pass through her lips, which caused Cheese to fall over and off the table.  
"That's a great idea!" Topaz said. "You two would look so cute together!"  
Amy, at this point, was blushing like mad.  
"I never, I mean, I would never!" The pink hedgehog stuttered.  
"Speaking of Tails…" Chuck finally decided to join the conversation, and change the subject at the same time. "I wonder what's keeping Tails? He should be back by now."

Suddenly, a high-pitched laugh interrupted the thoughts of all the people in the room. Bokkun flew into the room, wearing a dark-purple baseball cap with the letter 'E' on it, carrying a TV monitor.  
"_Sorry! I didn't know it was meal-time!" _The robot said._ "But Doctor Eggman's got a really important message for ya!"_

Everyone in the room got out of their seats, except for Tanaka, who had just rushed in, and Douglas, who refused to consider Bokkun a threat.  
"Not again!" Sonic exclaimed.  
"How dare you barge in on us like this!" Tanaka said, pointing at Eggman's messenger robot. "You need to learn some manners!"  
"_Hah, that's what you say!"_ The robot said, putting the monitor down on the table.

The TV flashed into life, showing the image of Doctor Eggman.  
"Good evening Sonic. I suggest that you take a look out the window."  
"Window?" The blue hedgehog questioned, going over to the window and opening it. "Whoa! Check this out!"

The occupants of the room, bar Bukkon, then huddled around the window, looking out at the white tower of light.  
"That's Chaos Emerald light!" Cream exclaimed.  
"Is Miss Cream correct?" Mr. Tanaka asked.  
"Half right." Knuckles stated. "More likely it's more than just one emerald that's causing that."

"My thoughts exactly!" Eggman said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "I want the Chaos Emeralds just as much as you all do. But using my superior intellect, and all round gentlemanly ways, I thought to myself: 'why not be a good sport about it? That's why I suggest that you all suit-up, and meet me…"

Eggman then jumped off screen, at which point the image went to black. A spotlight then provided the light, and showed the Doctor dressed up in a baseball player's outfit, complete with a dark purple jacket with 'EGG' printed across it, a baseball cap similar to the one Bukkon was wearing, and even baseball shoes.  
"…At the Diamond Stadium!" Eggman concluded his challenge.

"Diamond stadium?" Tanaka questioned, clenching his fist with anger, as his glasses seemed to light up with fury.  
"What for?" Chuck demanded, sounding quite angry.  
"I challenge you Sonic and your friends to a game of 'winner take all' baseball!" The Doctor said, showing off a baseball, before entering into a loud egotistical laugh. The TV then switched itself off.

"This means trouble!" Sonic stated.  
"He's challenging us to baseball?" Chuck questioned. "Interesting…"  
"_Yeah! Baseball!"_ Bokkun suddenly pulled out a baseball bat out of its mailbag, and some baseballs. _"Here! Have some free practice!"_

Without warning, Bokkun began hitting baseballs rapidly down at the group, causing them to duck under the table, jump out of the window, or in Tanaka's case, just get hit ball a lot of baseballs

"_Ha! What do you have to say to that huh?"_ Bukkon said smugly, putting its bat back into the mailbag, and picking up the TV.

Douglas answered the question be picking up a nearby vase and throwing at the machine. The vase collided with the monitor it was holding, causing it to explode, and sending the robot hurtling and screaming out of the open window.

"HOME RUN THAT!" Douglas roared  
"Douglas!" Topaz exclaimed, looking up from under the table.  
"What? I hate baseball." Douglas stated.  
"You never used to." Chuck pointed out, appearing from outside at the window.  
"Oh, I think you damn well know why!"  
"Oh quit crying and Let's go!" He said, pointing to the sky. "To the car!"

Within seconds, Tanaka (who was now dressed in an orange 'Diamond' baseball player's uniform), Amy, Cream and Cheese were in the back seats of the Thorndyke car, while Chuck and Topaz occupied the front passenger seats, with Douglas driving. Knuckles choose to stand onto the ledge of the car's side next to Douglas, holding onto the top of the door for support.

Douglas, reluctantly, and with a look of annoyance, indicating he wasn't enjoying this, pushed down hard on the accelerator, speeding out of the driveway and onto the roads, heading for the Diamond Stadium. It wasn't long before Sonic, naturally travelling on foot, over took them.

Chuck smiled to himself, adjusting his orange 'Diamond' baseball cap. It was going to be just like when he was young.

* * *

The light around then emeralds vanished, almost as quickly as it had appeared, taking the tower with it.

"Little fella, I'm hoping you have some kind of explanation for what just happened there?"  
"That always happens when Chaos Emeralds come together!" The kitsune explained. "The Chaos Emeralds have a mystic connection to one another, and react when others are nearby. We call it Chaos Control, only without the powers that there'd been when all seven are together. I just hope that the wrong person didn't see that…"

"Oh, I can assure you that I saw that alright!" A voice above then said, causing them both to look upwards.  
They saw the grinning form of Doctor Eggman, dressed in his purple 'EGG' baseball gear and wielding a baseball bat, standing in his Egg-Pod.  
"Eggman!" Tails exclaimed.  
"Well, if it isn't my foxy high-flying friend!" The Doctor stated, before chuckling to himself.

A thought struck the self-proclaimed genius as he looked down as the fox and the human. They were the only people here, apart from himself.  
"Where's the rest of your team?" He said as he looked around him, to see if the blue pest and the rest of those troublesome friends of the hedgehog's were around, but they were nowhere to be seen. "It's nearly game time!"  
"I don't know what you're talking about Eggman!" The fox shouted up. "But if you're after the Chaos Emeralds, I won't let you have them!"

Eggman ignored the threat, rubbing the bottom of his chin thoughtfully.  
'Could it be that Sonic and his friends are choosing to forfeit the game?' He pondered mentally. 'I must say that's very unsporting of them.'  
"If there's anything I can't stand more than a meddling hedgehog, then it's a quitter!" Eggman declared verbally.

"I don't know what that guy's so worked up about, do you little fella?"  
"Eggman, what are you talking about?" The kitsune asked, just as confused.  
"Wait! This works to my advantage!" The Doctor announced, jumping down onto the seat of his Egg-Pod and pressing a combination of buttons. "If they don't want to play ball, then I still win!"

The antenna on the bottom of the Egg-Pod retracted into the craft, and out of the hole came a red sphere with grabbing metal fingers on it, attached to a long tube. This claw then shot downwards, heading towards Tails and his human friend.

"AH!" The fox exclaimed, jumping out of the way and leaving the claw to only grab thin air.  
Undeterred, the claw then turned its attention to the human holding the blue emerald.  
"What's going on here?" The man questioned.

The claw instantly leapt forward, grabbing onto the human's hand that held the gem, trying to pull it out of his grasp. Against the force of powerful machinery, the man was no match for the claw, and soon enough, the claw pulled backwards, holding the emerald, while the man fell over onto his back.  
"NO!" Tails exclaimed. "He's got the emerald!"

Eggman smiled, as his claw came upwards, and neatly deposited the blue Chaos Emerald into his hand.  
"Finally!" He said. "I've been stuck for far too long on this planet without one of you! And now it's one down, and one to go!" He turned his attention to the twin-tailed fox who held the green emerald. "Hand it over! I've won these emeralds fair and square, so give up that second emerald before I have to use a 'forced' play!"  
"I'd like to see you try it!" Was the fox's reply, as he started to run away from where the Egg-Pod was.

The claw once again shot forward, this time homing in on the escaping fox. Despite using his tails for extra speed, there seemed to be no escape from the claw. Soon enough, he and the emerald would be in Eggman's grasp…

The sound of a gunshot rattled through the air. Freezing on the spot, Tails looked behind him, and saw that the claw had suddenly exploded in a little cloud of flames and smoke.  
"WHAT?" The Doctor roared. "WHO DARED TO DO THAT?"

The sound of a quite dark and sinister laugh was the next sound to be heard. This caught the attention of the human, Doctor and fox, and made them look at the figure standing on top of the side-entrance into the stadium.

The figure was a dark purple furry creature, which was holding a silver gun that seemed to shine of the light from the floodlights. He wore brown cowboy hat, with matching boots, gloves and belt. He also had a very interesting feature about him, or more appropriately, his mouth. He had one sharp tooth that stuck out from the top of his mouth, no matter if his lips were open or not.

He smiled, using his slightly crooked tail to bounce off from where he was standing, and jump high into the air, before landing expertly on the ground just between Eggman and Tails.

"Well, if it isn't Fang the Sniper…" Eggman sneered.  
"The one and only!" The weasel said, smirking.  
"What business do you have interrupting me?" The Doctor demanded.  
"The only business I is involved with! Money! Twenty thousand in notes for each Chaos Emerald! Well, it ain't every day ya see Chaos Emeralds makin' pretty towers o' light in da sky, do ya?"

"Doing Sonic's dirty work eh?" Eggman said.  
"The hedgehog? Naw, it's some Smicktor guy who's puttin' up the reward."  
"Douglas?" Tails questioned.  
"Yeah, name the guy! That's him, you know him?" Fang looked at the fox. "Hey! Since when was you a bounty hunter? Is everyone here after the money?"

Before Tails could answer, something blue rushed along the stands of the stadium, before rushing around the two furries, and stopping beside Tails.  
"Hey Tails! Glad you could make it." Sonic said, before noticing the weasel. "Well well! Long time no see Nack!"  
The weasel smirked, tucking his gun into the holster on his belt. "Heh, so it is."  
"Well, if it isn't Sonic!" Eggman stated. "I thought you weren't going to show up, so I took one of the emeralds already, and I was just collecting the second! But since you're here, maybe we can play ball!"

At that moment, the occupants of the Thorndyke car ran onto the field and up to Sonic and Tails.  
"Hold up Eggman!" Fang said. "You ain't collecting no emeralds! I came here for 20 grand, and I ain't leavin' 'till I gets it!"  
"What do you mean? Take the fox's emerald!" Eggman said, pointing his bat at Tails.  
"Hey! No reward for emeralds we already have!" Douglas said.

"Alright!" Fang stated, raising his gun at pointing it at the Doctor. "Hand it over Eggman!"  
"Fang!" Knuckles said. "What are doing here?"  
"Tryin' to make some damn money, if people wouldn't interrupt me!"  
"You put up a reward for Chaos Emeralds?" Topaz questioned Douglas.

"Yes, and it seems to be working! I mean, look at this guy! He's cool!"  
"You're only saying that because he's purple." Chuck said.  
"Shut up! Purple's an awesome colour!" Both Fang and Douglas said simultaneously.

"Alright Eggman!" Sonic said. "You're outnumbered! Now give us back that Chaos Emerald!"  
"All in good time my speedy little opponent! But first, I'd like to introduce you to my E-21 team mates."  
"Team mates?"  
"What's that?" Topaz said, noticing something behind the group.

A dark shadow had suddenly started to creep its way over the group of humans and furries. Turning around to the see what was causing it, they saw a space ship like craft hovering above them. It was black, with a metallic centre, and two purple eye-like sensors on it's front. On each of the sides of the craft, was a round disk with an antenna sticking out of the top of it.

"That thing looks like some kind of giant floating baseball cap!" Douglas stated.  
"Fancy lookin' gizmo." Fang added.

The metallic centre opened up, and a white beam came out of it. Moments later, robots began slowly travelling down the beam, landing on the turf and forming up into a line in front of the group. Each robot was shaped like a small human, with dark grey arms and legs, a purple torso with 'EGG' printed on it, and a helmet-like head with a purple visor sensor and a yellow 'E' printed above it.

"They're scary Miss Amy!" Cream said, hugging onto the pink hedgehog.  
"Chao!" Cheese agreed.  
"It's okay…" Amy said, a little apprehensive to what was happening.

The robots had stopped coming out of the craft, and the Egg-Pod was no just above the line. The Doctor then jumped out of his transport, and was standing proudly in front of his machines.

"Behold! My Ballios baseball team! Not too shabby, eh?" He chuckled. "Now why don't we forget about all those 'pre-game' ceremonies and get to the real reason why we're all here?"  
"Yeah! My twenty thousand…!"  
"NO! It's now game time!"  
"_Let's play ball!"_ Decoe and Bocoe announced, suddenly jumping out from behind the line of robots.

"He wants us to what?" Douglas questioned.  
"You can't have your game here!" Tails said.  
"Wait!" Chuck said, standing in front of the fox. "It just so happens that old Grandpa Chuck here is a big baseball fan from way back."

"Wha?" The fox was clearly confused, as Douglas, Topaz, Knuckles and Fang seemed to be.  
"A nice friendly game of baseball sounds like a great idea to me."  
"But… But Chuck!"

Eggman smiled. "So, you're this Chuck Thorndyke I've heard so much about? Well, I must say that it's a pleasure to meet a fellow inventive mind like my own. You must understand what an exciting idea it is to have a ball game, especially after being cooped up in a laboratory day after day!"  
"HEY! If you want to have a ball game you have to have it some place else!" Tails shouted, waving his arms. "Isn't anyone listening to me?"

"Well, if the others are up for it, then I'd be more than happy to accept your challenge!" Chuck said, not listening to the fox.  
"But you can't have your game here! You'll ruin all the beautiful turf!"

"_What's that loud-mouth fox getting so bent out of shape for?"_ Decoe asked, watching the scene.  
"_Who knows?"_ Bocoe replied.  
"HEY!" Tails said, suddenly jumping over to confront the robots, causing them to fall over in surprise. "I'll have you know that this stadium means a lot to my friend!"

"It's okay little fella!" The groundskeeper said, walking over to the fox. "I mean, it's only a matter of time before this place is demolished anyway…"  
"Demolished?" Douglas questioned, looking at the man. "Good. The less baseball the better."  
"Hey, haven't I seen you before?" Chuck asked him, ignoring Douglas.

"Maybe during the seventh innings stretch. My name's Albert Butler, and I am the head groundskeeper here."  
"Ah!" Chuck said, realising. "I thought you looked familiar, I've seen you on television! You were good friends with the owner Emer Johnson, weren't you?"  
"Well, Emer and me don't really talk that much anymore…"

Chuck then unexpectedly broke into tears, covering up his eyes with his arm. "It's such an honour to think that I'm going to be able to play in the world famous Diamond Stadium!"  
"STOP YOU BLUBBERING!" Eggman roared. "Let's play some baseball!"

"Uh… Okay…" Amy said.  
"Baseball?" Topaz questioned. "What does this have to do with emeralds?"  
"This is getting' too weird." Fang stated, shaking his head.  
"How do we play?" Cream asked.  
"Chao-chao?" Cheese added.

"Alright! Everybody!" Chuck announced. "It's time for the Chaos Emerald Baseball Play-Off!"  
Eggman then pushed Chuck out of his way to take centre stage. "It's the first ever Eggman Intergalactic Baseball Challenge!"

"Did I mention that I hate baseball?" Douglas sighed, shaking his head.  
"This. Is. Sad." Knuckles stated.  
"And totally embarrassing." Topaz added. "Anyone excited by this should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves…"

Mr. Tanaka, already fully dressed in Diamond baseball gear, was limbering himself up for the big game by practicing his stretches.  
"Does he HAVE to be on our team?" Sonic sighed, whilst sitting on top of one of Eggman's Ballios robots.

"Does this mean we get to play too Miss Amy?"  
"I don't see why not." The pink hedgehog replied.

Tanaka was now trying another stretching technique, this time hooking the bat behind his back using the joints of his elbows, and turning his upper torso from side to side.  
Eggman was practicing his batting technique, swinging at the air with his bat.

"Chuck, do you really think this whole 'baseball game' is a good idea?" Topaz asked. "I mean, Eggman could have something up his sleeve!"  
"You're right Topaz. For all we know, that guy could be using a 'corked' bat!"  
"…That's not what I meant."

"Well, IUSED to play it a lot in my spare time." Douglas explained to the kitsune. "It's sort of easy to understand I guess. All you've gotta do is hit the ball with that bat. Simple, huh?"  
"But this isn't a good idea! Eggman could…!"  
"Listen man, there's one thing that the ladies can't resist, and that's a sportsman!"  
"Really?" Tails was very interested now.  
"Yeah! I mean, I'm a prime example of how that works! You do well tonight, and you'll have to fight the girls off!"

"Okay!" Eggman announced. "Let's decide who starts first, shall we? Rock, paper, scissors!"  
"Right!" Chuck replied, clenching his fist and putting it opposite the Doctor's.  
"One… Two…"

"You can't be serious!" Knuckles stated, interrupting the two. "You do realise what will happen if Eggman wins, don't you? He won't just be winning a simple game, but the Chaos Emerald as well! If you lose Chuck then it will mean nothing but catastrophe for ALL of us!"

"I say that's stinking thinking!" Eggman said.  
"Why ruin everyone's fun? Chuck added.  
"What?" That took the guardian aback.

"Come on Knuckles, don't you want to play?" Amy said, leaning onto the echidna's shoulder.  
"Mister Knuckles, you aren't going to be a chicken are you?" Cream asked, hugging onto his leg.  
"Chao-chao chao!" Cheese stated, flying up and sitting on his head.  
"ME? CHICKEN?"

"Perhaps Knuckles is simply too afraid of losing to play a little game of baseball!" Tanaka noted, while pointing a baseball bat at the echidna.  
"I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!" Knuckles roared.  
"Right." Sonic said, appearing in front of him. "So you'll play, right?"

"HA! NO! You won't blackmail me!" The Guardian said, pushing his way out of the circle that had formed around him. "I'm not falling for that whole 'Team-Player' stuff! You may have tricked Tails into falling for that stuff!" He pointed at the fox, now decked out in baseball gear. "But not me! And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who won't be playing!"

"Darn!" Fang said, adjusting his orange baseball cap. "I get the twenty thousand for helpin' to win this game, and I can keep all this gear! This is the best deal I've ever done!"  
Knuckles' jaw dropped at the sight of the weasel in full baseball gear, but his jaw went down further when he saw Topaz dressed up in the same gear.  
"Well, military regulations state I can't actually play without the consent from my superiors…" She explained. "But there's nothing against me supporting you guys."

The Guardian sighed, staring down at his feet and grumbling under his breath, resisting the urge just to smash everything in sight.

"All right… You want a team player… THEN I'LL GIVE YOU A TEAM PLAYER! LET'S GET THIS GAME GOING!"

* * *

Flip Card 1 – Fang the Sniper

Full Real Name: Nack the Weasel  
Nickname(s): Fang the Sniper, Fang, The Sniper  
Gender: Male  
Age: 17  
Likes: Money, expensive things, treasure, guns  
Dislikes: Being broke, losing money, being in deep trouble  
Identifying features: Purple-furred weasel, wears cowboy boots, gloves, belt and hat. Carries around a silver gun. Can use his tail to spring up to heights. Rumoured to have an air-bike called the 'Magnificent Queen'.

* * *

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Albert – 

Full Real Name: Albert Butler  
Nickname(s): n/a  
Gender: Male  
Age: 62  
Likes: Keeping the turf tidy, looking after the grounds  
Dislikes: Litter, pesticides  
Identifying features: Usually wears a Diamond baseball cap, works at the Diamond Stadium. Can be found looking after the field and grounds.

* * *

Part 2

"Why do I have a worrying feeling that this is all going to go horribly wrong?" Topaz said, watching as Douglas stepped up to home base to begin batting for 'Team Sonic'.  
"Relax! Doug's got this covered!" Sonic waved off the worry.  
"At least he looks nervous." Knuckles stated. "Eggman will have engineered those robots to be almost unbeatable at this game.

"_Let's play ball!"_ Decoe announced, dresses as a baseball umpire.  
"Alright, let's get this over with." Douglas sighed, clearly not enjoying playing this, looking at the Ballios robot that was acting as the pitcher.

The robot said nothing (mainly due to the fact it couldn't speak) and drew the arm holding the baseball back. It took one step forward and launched the ball forward. In the blink of en eye the ball was then caught in the glove of the Ballios robot behind Douglas.

"_Strike one."_ Decoe announced.  
"Shit…" Douglas whispered to himself, surprised by the robot's ability.  
"Damn! That's what I call a 'fast ball'!" Fang said.  
"Okay! You caught me off guard with that one!" Douglas stated, pointing his bat at the pitcher. "But not this time!"

The players readied themselves again in position. The robot threw the ball again, and this time Douglas was able to swing the bat. Unfortunately, Douglas missed.  
"_Strike two."_

The human growled in annoyance, mumbling something probably unpleasant under his breath, preparing himself for a final swing that would knock the incoming ball out of the park.  
Once again, the robotic player threw the baseball, and Douglas swung his bat with a look of determination on his face.  
"_Strike three. You are out."_

"Oh well" Douglas sighed, swinging his bat around in annoyance, and unintentionally knocking over Decoe in the process. "It's a stupid god damn game anyway, what with it's friggin' no good rules… How the hell can anyone hit a ball that fast anyway?" He cursed, dragging his bat behind him as he walked back to the 'Sonic Team' dugout.

"HA! Loser!" Eggman announced, looking very pleased with himself from his team dugout. "Okay Sonic, send out your next sucker!"

"I can see we're in for a long game." Topaz sighed.

* * *

Tails readied his bat in his hands, looking slightly confident since he knew what to expect now.  
'It'll probably be another fast ball.' He thought to himself.

The Ballios robot prepared itself, holding the hand with the ball over its head, before taking a step forward and launching the ball. The problem was, the ball was still in its hand, and its arm was extending itself.

The kitsune was very confused as it watched the hand suddenly come to stop just inches in front of him, and then flick the baseball into the glove of the robot behind him.

"HUH?" He exclaimed.  
"_Strike one."_ Decoe announced.  
"Hey umpire! That wasn't fair!" Tails stated.  
"_What do you want from me? It's not my fault it has long arms."_

"So, are we allowed to cheat or what?" Douglas questioned.  
"I suggest that it is only to be expected from Doctor Eggman." Tanaka stated.  
"Sound like a good idea to me." Fang pointed out.

* * *

"Okay! Give me your best pitch ball boy!" Amy challenged, wielding her Piko-Piko Hammer.  
"HEY!" Eggman shouted. "That's not fair!"  
"Why not?" Chuck questioned. "I think it's an interesting dynamic to the game!"

The machine then launched a rather soft looking pitch towards the pink hedgehog.  
"I've got it!" She announced, before swinging her hammer and hitting the ball high up into the air towards the scoreboard.

In the 'Team Sonic' dugout, the players cheered. The ball looked almost certain to be heading out of the park, giving their team a home run.  
'We might not lose this thing after all.' Knuckles thought to himself, keeping his emotions to himself.

It was at that moment one of the Ballios robots picked up another, and launched it high up into the air, directed towards the ball. Holding out its gloved hand, the flying robot soon caught up with the baseball, and grabbed it.

"_She's out."_ Decoe stated, and the robot returned back to the ground.  
"Huh? But I thought…?" Amy started to say.

Eggman laughed loudly at the scene, now very sure that victory was assured, even at this early stage.

* * *

"These people are embarrassin' me man! They's crampin' my style!" Fang complained.  
"Dude! Just catch the balls, we'll get these guys out, then we'll be batting again!" Douglas stated. "Which with how my luck's going, will be LOTS of fun…"

"Now I'll show them what I can do!" Amy said, taking up position as pitcher. "I'm a much better pitcher anyway!"  
"I sincerely hope Miss Amy is aware of what she is doing." Tanaka, in position as catcher behind the batting Ballios robot, thought aloud.

Amy drew her arm back, took a step forward, and threw the ball with all her might. It was very obvious that the ball had a lot of force behind it. As indicated by the fact that when the ball stuck the Ballios, the machine suddenly flew apart into pieces.

"…_Out?"_ Decoe questioned, watching some of the other Ballios come over to check on the destroyed machine.  
"Sorry about that!" Amy apologised, a sweat-drop appearing on her head.  
"You go girl!" Topaz called out.

* * *

Once again, Amy was pitching against a Ballios. This time, just when Amy threw the ball, the Ballios robot that was on first base ran forward. Confused by the sudden play, the batting machine forgot to swing.

"_Strike one."_ Decoe stated.  
Tanaka caught the ball, and then quickly threw the ball over the head of the pink hedgehog to the kitsune on the other side of the field. Tails caught it, and moved of the base to run the robot out that was coming towards him.

That was his plan anyway. It failed when the machine suddenly sprung upwards using extended feet into the air above Tails, only to come back down to the ground in a handstand position on second base.  
"_Safe."_

'Losing isn't fun…' Tails thought to himself, throwing the ball down to the ground in disgust.

* * *

The sound of the bat striking the baseball rattled throughout the stadium, as the ball was sent high and far.  
"It's out of the park!" Eggman announced, pointing from his dugout, while the robot that had just battled ran with all the power in its batteries around the bases.

Wasting no time, Sonic quickly ran off the field, into the stands of the stadium, and then onto the top of the scoreboard. Holding his baseball glove up, he was easily able to catch the ball. He looked very pleased with himself.

"_Home run. Home run." _Decoe announced, motioning with its hand.  
"MORON!" Douglas shouted, face-palming himself.  
"Wait to go Sonic…" Chuck stated. "You caught it. But if it's outside the fences it doesn't count."  
"How says we have to play by the rules anyway?" Sonic replied. "Cut me some slack here!"

* * *

Once again, Amy was back on home base, wielding her hammer and preparing to bat. The Ballios pitcher launched the baseball towards the hedgehog. Moments later, Amy's hammer struck the ball back into the robot, smashing it to pieces much like the earlier pitching incident.

"Whoops!" Amy stated, looking embarrassed as she stood on first base. "That's a hit!"  
"My god." Douglas stated. "And they say wrestling is dangerous!"

* * *

"Okay! Let's do this!" Fang stated, twirling the baseball bat in his hand. "Let's see what skills you rust-buckets have!"  
"Hey Sonic, you know this guy?" Chuck asked the blue hedgehog.  
"We've had issues in the past." Was the answer. "But it's just about money to him. Nothing more, nothing less. He'll bail out of anything as soon as he's gotten something out of it."

The robot threw the ball, and the weasel was able to hit it over to the far side of the field. There, two robots approached the ball as it rolled along the grass, hoping to catch it. But as they both reached for the ball at the same time, they ended up smacking their heads against one another.

"He's got first base!" Tails announced.  
"And he's still going!" Douglas added.

The two robots were now very dazed from their collision, and preceded to stumble right into one another, with the ball behind them.

"He's past second!" Eggman roared. "Get yourselves into gear!"

In response to the order, a third Ballios machine ran over, jumping over the two fallen teammates, and picked up the ball. It turned around to throw the ball, but only succeeded in tripping over the other robots and falling flat on its face.

"Third base!" Chuck announced. "He's nearly there!"

The robot shook it's self back into place, standing up and throwing the ball towards the catcher at home base. At the same moment, Fang took a sliding dive towards home base, causing dust to fly up, and create a cloud around home base just as the robot their catch the ball and brought it down towards the base.

"YESS!" Eggman roared. "WE GOT HIM!"

The cloud of dust then settled down, revealing that Fang has slid far enough to place both of his hands on the base, and the robot was holding the ball just above the weasel's hands.

"_Safe. Home Run."  
_"REPRESENT!" Douglas shouted.  
"That was lucky, huh wasn't it Mister Knuckles?" Cream asked.  
"He always did have weird luck." Knuckles stated, grabbing a baseball bat. "Now it's my turn."

Knuckles walked onto the field, past the gloating weasel, and took his position.  
"Strike that echidna out! Do you hear me?" Eggman ordered. "They're taking far too many runs already!"

The pitcher Ballios only nodded in reply, turning to face the Guardian, and launching a strong, fastball at him. It didn't do any good, as Knuckles effortlessly swung the bat and struck the ball hard and out of the stadium.

"_Sad to say, but it's another home run."  
_"Yeah! Way to go Knuckles!" Sonic encouraged, as the rest of 'Team Sonic' cheered the echidna.  
"Copycat." Fang joked.  
"That's just what we needed!" Chuck stated. "We're closing in on them now!"

* * *

"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen!" Scarlet announced, looking into the lens of the camera as she spoke. "This is Scarlet Garcia with an exclusive special live report from Diamond Stadium. There appears to be a most extraordinary and unusual baseball game happening right at this moment as I speak. The notorious Doctor Eggman with a team of robots are playing against a team comprised of the strange furry animals, including the blue hedgehog known as Sonic, and S.S.C. wrestler Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor and associates, including the retired inventor Chuck Thorndyke.

This game is happening right now, here at the Stadium, the soon to be former home of the Diamonds. This game is certain, without a doubt at least in this reporter's mind, to be sports history in the making. This is Scarlet Garcia, for SSTV News, continuing to bring live coverage of this important game."

* * *

"We have to give this our best shot!" Chuck announced. "We're just three points behind!"  
"So you're sending out her?" Topaz stated, pointing at Cream, as she tried to make her way to the batting position, but was having trouble carrying the bat.  
"Oh, this I gots to see!" Fang stated.  
"_Play ball!" _Decoe announced as soon as Cream had gotten herself ready to try and bat.

The pitcher nodded, drawing its arm back. It was just about to throw the ball when…  
"Um, Mister Pitcher?" Cream asked, in her most polite and innocent sounding voice. "Could you, maybe, not throw that ball too hard? I've never played this game before."

The effect of the pure innocence had a profound effect on the robot, as it seemed to blush (though utterly impossible by the laws of mechanics, physics and logic), before slowly letting the ball fall from its hand to the ground.

_"Foul ball." Decoe announced. "Batter takes first base."  
_"Thank you Mister Pitcher!" Cream happily said, before skipping all the way to first base.  
"I AUGHT TO THROW YOU ON THE SCRAP HEAP!" Eggman roared at the robot, causing it to fall over.

* * *

Once again, Knuckles had taken to the field, and once again, he'd sent the ball flying out of the Stadium.

"Alright Knuckles!" Chuck shouted. "Another home run!"  
"That means we're tied!" Amy stated.  
"I didn't think they had time for baseball on the Island." Sonic said.  
"Heh." Fang laughed. "The Chaotix had to find somethin' to do before the whole detective thing kicked in."  
"Say what?" the blue hedgehog questioned.  
"Never mind."

Mr. Tanaka, who had been strangely (at least to him) left out of any batting duties, noticed something, which made him get out of the team dugout and take a look around the stadium.  
"Excuse me." He said. "But there is something happening that you may be interested in."

He pointed up at the stands around the stadium. Gradually, people were appearing and taking up seats all around.

"Huh?" Chuck looked confused.  
"Where did all these people come from?" Even Albert was confused.  
"Forget about that!" Douglas stated. "Sonic! Come here."

The blue hedgehog came over to the purple haired human.

"Listen man, we're tied 35-to-35. It's just you and me left to bat, but if one of us gets caught out or struck out, then we've lost. We've got two choices her. One: You knock the next ball out of the park, and win us the game with a home run. Or two: You play it safe with a low ball and just zip around for an easy home run."

"What about you?" Sonic asked. "Don't you want to…?"  
"DUDE! Forget me! Take the moment! Be the hero! Just go out there, and win us that game!" Douglas handed Sonic a bat. "Now go do it!"  
"No problem!" Sonic stated with a smirk, before rushing over to home base.

The Ballios robot took up its stance, before launching the ball at the hedgehog. Sonic took the bat in a vertical stance, knocking the ball back away from him. The pitching robot ran forward to grab the ball, and at the same time a blue blur zipped away to first base.  
'Nice!' Douglas thought. 'Option two will work just fine!'

The robot turned, and saw Sonic smiling at third base.

"…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Douglas shouted at Sonic, climbing out of the dugout.  
"Relax!" Sonic said. "You can do it?"  
"ARE YOU ON DRUGS OR SOMETHING?" He turned to look at his teammates. "You guys, how many times have I been up to bat?"

"Every time we've been able to Mister Douglas!" Cream answered.  
"And out of those times, how many times have I actually hit the ball?"  
"Uh… None I think…" Tails answered.  
"Yeah, that record sucks." Fang added.

"EXACTALLY!" Douglas looked back at the blue hedgehog. "What were you thinking? The plan, what about the plan?"  
"Geez, relax Doug! You can win us the game!"  
"I will be LOSING us the damn game!" Douglas exclaimed again. "Damn it hedgehog! Can't you listen to anyone?"  
"I want you to strike that meddler out!" Eggman ordered his robots, which all nodded in reply.

Douglas groaned in defeat, reluctantly grabbing a bat. "Yo Tails." He said.  
"Yeah?" The kitsune replied.  
"Give me the emerald."  
"Why?" The fox asked, pulling it out from behind him.  
"I'll have to hand that over when I lose." He stated flatly, grabbing it and walking over to the batting position."

"Mister Douglas seems very angry."  
"Yes Cream, he does." Chuck stated. "He uh… Gets like that if… He feels… There's no way he can win, so he just admits defeat."  
"But all he needs to do is hit the ball!" Amy said.  
"Yeah, then Sonic will easily get to home base." Tails added.  
"Easier said then done." Knuckles pointed out. "Those robots will only be using fast balls against Douglas, and we've seen how many of those he can hit."

The purple haired human sighed, taking up batting position. The Ballios opposite nodded, before throwing a fast pitch. Douglas swung his bat, but to no avail.

"_Strike one."  
_"Come on Douglas!" Topaz encouraged. "You can do it!"  
'Yeah, I bet I can.' Douglas thought. 'If 'it' is letting everybody down as usual.'  
Sonic looked slightly confused at what was going on. Douglas had come through before when they needed him.

"_Strike two."_ Decoe announced again, after another failed swing by Douglas.  
"Time out!" Sonic called, before running over to Douglas. "Doug, are you telling me that you can't a hit in on a little ball? There's nothing to it!"  
"That's easy for you to say!" Douglas snapped. "You're not playing the game that used to be the favourite hobby of the only person I ever cared about! Do you have any idea the memories I'm getting right now holding this thing?" He pointed to the baseball bat.  
"Dude, it's not like you to make any excuses!" Sonic said, missing the point to what Douglas was saying. "So what if they've been throwing a couple of fast balls? You can't let that get you down! All you have to do is concentrate, and keep on trying! You'll nail one of those things faster than I can run the hundred metres!"

Douglas glared at the hedgehog, but it seemed to have no effect.  
"Just go and do your best." Sonic said with a wink, before returning to third base.  
"I hate you." Douglas said, staring daggers into the hedgehog's back.

"_Play ball!" _Decoe stated, once Douglas had returned to the batting position.  
'These god damn morons…' The human thought, gripping his bat. 'They have no idea what hell I've been through all these past years… And they think I can all of a sudden come here just to play some damn stupid game?'

The anger was seething through him, shown by how Douglas was gritting his teeth and looking at the pitching robot with dark and sinister eyes.  
'I show these fools… I'll show them all!'

No one at this moment could have possibly realised that the Chaos Emerald that Douglas had placed in his pocket was beginning to shine a little, reacting to the emotions of the human.

"Go on Ballios!" Eggman ordered. "Strike that loser out and win me this game!"  
"Come on Douglas!" Chuck called. "Just concentrate! You only need to hit the ball!"  
'Just concentrate!' Douglas sarcastically thought.  
"Come on!" He verbally said. "Let's get this over with!"

Douglas squinted his eyes, locked onto the pitcher. He suspected that he was going down, but there was no way he was going down without a fight.  
'Concentrate… All right! I'll show them concentration!'

The Ballios then launched the ball, the harder and faster than any other had done before.

That's what anyone would have expected anyway. As soon as the ball left the robot's hand, it seemed, at least to Douglas, to be moving like it had been thrown through water instead of air. It might as well have been moving along on a piece of string.

He blinked, watching the slow moving baseball coming towards him. He looked over to his team dugout to ask if they saw what he was seeing. They were anxiously looking on, but in slow motion, much like the ball.

A glance around him discovered that the whole stadium, now jammed-packed full of excited spectators, was also reacting in a similarly snail-like pace.  
'What the heck?' Douglas thought, checking the clock on the scoreboard. The second hand wasn't moving.

Something else on the scoreboard also caught his attention. Actually, someone. Standing on it, was a fox clad in an old blue robe. Douglas couldn't make out whom it was, but the person was smiling, and pointing at something on the human.

Douglas looked down, and for the first time noticed the glowing emerald in his pocket.  
'What in the name of all that is unholy is going on?' He thought, looking back up at the scoreboard, only to find that the person had vanished.

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, the ball was now just moments away from him, so Douglas readied his bat to send it right out of the park.

Then the ball literally stopped. It just hung right before Douglas, in mid air. Another look around him confirmed that it seemed time had stopped, with everyone looking as they would in a picture or a freeze frame.

Douglas let go of the bat, only to find it did not drop to the ground, but also hung in the air. Looking at the ball, Douglas smirked. He didn't have any clue as to what was going on, but what sort of guy would he be if he didn't take advantage of it?

So he did, bring his arm back and punching the ball with all his might.

Time snapped back into normality. At the same time, the baseball bat dropped to the floor, and the baseball went hurtling far away and out of the stadium. The crowd gasped for a moment, in shock of what they had just seen, before everyone (bar a certain Doctor and his robotic team mates) burst into loud cheers.

Sonic smirked as he ran up to Douglas.

"Told ya! Nothing to worry about."  
"Yeah…" Douglas said, still very unsure of his own sanity. "I guess so…"

Eggman screamed out in anguish, smashing up the nearest Ballios robot with a baseball bat, while Douglas slowly made his way around the bases, collecting his home run. As soon as he'd touched home base, his team mates pilled out of the dugout and onto the field, celebrating their victory.

"How did you do that?" Topaz asked, latching her arms around Douglas.  
"What can I say? Just need some concentration." Was the answer.  
"That had to have been the play of the year!" Albert stated. "Perhaps in the history of baseball!"  
"We Thorndykes have always loved baseball!" Chuck stated, casting a knowing wink to Douglas, to which he responded with a nod.

"You think you've won have you?" Eggman roared, jumping into his Egg-Pod with Decoe and Bocoe beside him. "You may have beaten me at baseball, but with this precious blue Chaos Emerald tucked safely away in my pocket I'M the real winner after all!"

Eggman pulled the emerald out, and waved it above his head to prove his point, before the Egg-Pod flew away into the distance, followed by the hovering craft that had transported the Ballios robots to the stadium. The remaining robots in the Stadium then collapsed onto the ground, having been deactivated because of their uselessness.

"I hate to say I told you so…" Knuckles said, throwing off the Diamonds jacket he had been forced to wear whilst playing.  
"At least he's only got one of them." Amy stated.  
"One might be all a guy like him needs." Fang pointed out. "That's one big machine he can power-up now."

All around the stadium, the watching fans got up on the feet, and gave the winning team a standing ovation for their efforts. 'Team Sonic' looked around them in wonder, having never expected anything like this. It wasn't too long ago that the government was hunting them down. Now they had achieved something far better than any baseball victory.

They had won respect.

"As you can see, there has been quite an extraordinary turnout for this event." Scarlet announced to the camera. "This unbelievable game was, of course, the last to be played here at the Diamond Stadium…"  
The crowd cheering again, this time for the person walking onto the field, cut her off.  
"Could it be?" She said, looking at the person.

A dark skinned man in a light blue suit with a dark green shirt and yellow tie, with a bushy black beard and hair was walking towards the winning players.  
"That's Emer Johnson!" Chuck exclaimed. "The owner and manager of the Diamond Stadium and the Diamonds!"

He walked right up to them, and looked directly at Albert.  
"I was watching at home…" He started to say. "And I must say it was quite a remarkable game. Watching it made me remember how you always kept things so neat around here. That game would have never happened if you hadn't been around, even though today was your last day. To tell the truth, I can't be thankful enough for all that you've done for the Diamonds over the past few years, and how much of a good friend you've been."

"Why, thank you!" Albert said.  
"To let you in on a little secret, I've been thinking of getting rid of all this 'fake turf' nonsense and moving all the turf here over to the new stadium. I could sure use your help!" He extended his hand.  
"Why, sure!" Albert warmly shook the hand. "It would be an honour!"

"Well, we may have lost the Chaos Emerald…" Chuck said. "But I think that we've learned an important lesson about teamwork. And I'm sure you'll all agree that next time, we'll be even stronger next time we meet Eggman!"

"I don't know what planet you're on, but I learned NEVER to play baseball again!" Douglas stated, taking out the Chaos Emerald he had and tossing it to Tails. "I'll see you guys later." He added, pulling off his Diamonds jacket as he walked off towards the exit, along with Topaz.  
"I learned I should've shot Eggman when I could've!" Fang stated. "I would've got a sweet two-oh thousand PLUS this stuff." He pulled in the sleeve of his baseball jacket. "Now I gots to find me another of dem emeralds…" The weasel then sprung up using his tail, and over to an exit tunnel at the far said of the field.

"I hope you all learned that you should've listened to me in the first place!" Knuckles stated, before also leaving.  
"I unfortunately learned nothing, since I seemed to have played no active part in our victory!" Tanaka said, before also storming off.

"I learned baseball is fun!" Cream stated, to which Cheese agreed.  
"Sorry Chuck!" Sonic stated. "But I really didn't learn anything, except that Eggman's a slightly bigger threat then before."  
"Me neither." Amy said. "Tails, can you get me back home quickly? There's that new cookery show starting soon and I don't want to miss it!"  
"No problem!" Tails said. "Follow me!" The kitsune then kicked his tails into gear, flying off the field with Sonic and Amy following him.

This left Chuck standing in the middle of the field alone, since Emer and Albert had walked off together to discuss the new stadium. The fans were already leaving, since the action was now over.

"Mister Thorndyke!" Scarlet called out, running onto the field with her film crew. "Can I get some post match comments about your victory?"  
Chuck adjusted his baseball cap slightly, before giving the reporter a very truthful statement.  
"I should have never retired."

* * *

Next Episode Preview – Voice-over by Topaz

"I know that the President wanted help from the animals to battle Eggman, but I hardly think a bounty-hunting weasel and a thief bat are what he was expecting! Now I'm stuck with them on a mission right in the enemy base, and they seem to have their own issues! Whatever happened to Douglas and Sonic's gang anyway?

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: Sabotage Espionage. Don't miss it!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Somehow this episode took much longer to do than I first thought. Maybe because I was so looking forward to doing it, only to find out what an anti-climax it turned out to be. Ah well, shame on me I guess.  
Thanks to Julayla and midnightblue56for their reviews, and just to let you all know, that this current 'storyline' is almost over. Just as few more eps, perhaps a few fillers, then onto the next BIG storyline. Sorry, did I say storyline? I meant adaptation...


	11. Sabotage Espionage

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro

The Station Square Natural History Museum is located on the outskirts of Station Square, about 10 minutes away from the old Diamond Stadium. One of the most famous and well respected museums in the world, it showcases some of the great treasures and art works of the known world from the past, present, and future.

But to one pair of sparkling eyes, it was just another ugly building that had what she wanted.

Tapping a button on the small piece of technology she held in front of her right eye, she was able to magnify the image projected to her, zooming in on the museum.

'Hardly any external cameras...' She made a mental checklist as she looked over the complex. 'Ho signs of motion detectors... No guards on patrol... This is pathetic, and I'm not just talking about the paint-job...'

She raised the device away from her eye, returning her vision to normal. A sultry smirk formed on her lips. It was almost as if this place was begging to be robbed.

In one fluid motion, she kicked her feet away from the tree branch she was hanging from, curled her body up in mid air while tucking the eye-piece away into her body suit, then spun out and took to the air with a hard flap from her wings.

Gliding effortlessly above the treetops, the bat was in the air, and on a direct course towards the museum.

* * *

In the museum's security room, two men were sat at a table, playing a game of cards while another sat reading a newspaper by the CCTV monitors.

"Don't forget that it's only a couple of weeks away from the next big SSC Pay-Per-View event: The Royal Brawl!" The DJ's voice said from the radio. "Ya gotta wonder if TMG can hold onto that championship belt, and what about this 4GOT10 guy? It's like he goes out of way to try and make people hate him, but all this talk about him and that blue hedgehog has got to be messin' up his plans! Anyway, that's something I'm looking forward to! You're listening to SSFM radio, I'm your host Jun Senoue and check out this next track from a real crazy group called, get this, 'Crush 40'! You believe that? Anyway, they're gonna be big, and this song's called Into The Wind!"

"Okay... I pick age." The first guard at the table said.  
"Ha! Chuck Thorndyke!" The second guard said, putting his flip-card on the table.  
"Shit!" The first guard threw his card, Knuckles, down onto the table. "That's five times in a row now!"

The third guard looked up from his newspaper. "You win again Yuji?"  
"Of course! I always win! Even when it all goes wrong, I'm always right!"

A small flashing light brought the third guard's attention to the monitors.  
"Huh?" He questioned looking at the image on the screen.

Someone was in the main exhibition room, and was walking towards the display case in the centre of the room. To the guard, the intruder was also wearing wings.

"Guys, take a look at this!"  
"What is it Takashi?" Yuji asked, as he and the other guard walked over.

Before he could answer, the intruder had jumped over the barrier surrounding the case, setting off the motion alarm. A red warning light began flashing out in the display room, along with a siren.

"Is that... A bat?"  
"Looks like it Kazuyuki!" Takashi stated  
"One of those creatures from the news?" Yuji asked. "How did she get in?"

The bat seemed to put a hand on the glass case, moving it down as if she was feeling the large blue gem inside it. She giggled, taking a step back away from it.

Suddenly she leapt up, turning her body in the air and lashing out with a sharp karate kick, before landing on the ground again. She flapped her wings, and the force of the air caused the top half of the glass case to begin to slide downward, before smashing into the floor.

"She's taking the exhibit!" Takashi exclaimed, watching as the bat easily removed the gem from the remainder of the case.  
"Initiate security lockdown!" Kazuyuki stated, pressing a button combination on the security desk.

* * *

The bat sighed. She guessed this place replied on internal security, as it's main defence. Far too predictable.

'If they wanted to keep this so badly, they should have made more of an effort to stop me getting in!' She thought, giving the gem she held a kiss.

Her eyes glanced to the sides of the room as heavy metal barriers came down at the entrances, blocking off access to the hallways. Similar guards then came down on the windows on the walls of the room.

"Oh my!" She sarcastically gasped, mockingly putting her free hand on the side of her face. "How will I ever escape?" The bat held up the gem to her eyes, gazing at her own reflection. "They must want me all to themselves... How selfish!" She giggled again. "Sorry to disappoint you boys, but this lady's not one to wait around..."

* * *

"Hurry up guys! The room's this way!" Takashi stated, running down the hallway with the other guards.  
"Why? It's not as if she's going anywhere!" Yuji replied. "In this case, she becomes a dead pigeon!"  
"What?"  
"No! A dead ant!"  
"You know Yuji; recently I've noticed that you've lost it..." Kazuyuki said.

"Here we are! Draw your weapons!"  
The heavy guard slid open, and the three guards stormed into the room, their handguns ready to fire.

"Freeze! Raise your hands!" They ordered.  
"What? No!" Yuji said.  
"The room's empty!" Kazuyuki stated, running over to the other side of the room. "Where did she go?"  
"Calm down you guys!" Takashi walked over to look behind a statue at the side of the room. "She must be around here!"

The three guards cautiously made their way around the room, carefully checking any possible area where the intruder might be hiding in.  
"Damn, she wrecked the display case too..." Yuji said, stepping over the broken glass. "Huh?" He noticed something in the case.

Stepping over the barrier, he picked up a small playing card placed on the stand where the gem had been just moments before. It was the Queen of Hearts, but there was a black silhouette of a female bat as the main picture with a pink heart chest-plate. The card was also signed with a lipstick kiss that said 'Thanks boys! XXX'.

"Some kind of calling card?" Yuji questioned.  
"Guys!" Takashi exclaimed, pointing up. "Look!"

The other two guards looked up, and their jaws all hit the floor in collective shock. The large glass dome that made up the ceiling of the room had been cut into, and the word 'ROUGE' was spelled out.

* * *

Flying over the rooftops of the city, Rouge smiled at the gemstone she held.

"Well, it's no Chaos Emerald, but you'll have to do for now..." She said to it. "With Sonic and his chump friends around, they shouldn't be too hard to grab!"

* * *

Episode 11 - Sabotage Espionage

* * *

"And once again a reminder of our top news item today: There are still no positive leads in the extraordinary theft of the world's biggest natural diamond from the Natural History Museum right here in Station Square last night..." The news anchor said on the TV screen. "Police authorities have stated that they are investigating links between this robbery and a recent spree of thefts from jewellery stores and similar establishments all over the local area. SSTV News has been told however that is likely to have been the work of at least TWO rival gangs of criminals due to differences in method of entry and getaway, although nothing has been confirmed at this time..."

"Sonikku?" Amy opened up the hatch into the loft, holding a freshly made pizza. She looked around for the blue hedgehog, but only found Cream and Cheese watching the news. "Isn't he here?"

"Mr. Tails went out to look for Chaos Emeralds with Mr. Sonic and Mr. Douglas, Miss Amy." Cream said, turning around in her beanbag to look at her.  
"Chao!" Cheese added.

"Oh..." The pink hedgehog said, disappointed. "Well... If Sonic isn't around, then I guess we'll just have to share this ourselves, won't we?"  
"Wow! Really?" Cream asked.  
"Ella's been teaching me all kinds of cool recipes, and I don't see why I should let this go cold!" Amy replied with a smile.  
"Chao-Chao!" The Chao happily agreed to the idea.

* * *

The Tornado X flew over Station Square, with Sonic spinning a baseball on his finger as he sat on top of the glass that covered the rear passenger seats. Tails was calmly piloting, checking the Chaos Emerald every so often, while Douglas sat behind him, looking down at the city below.

"You sure that detector of yours is working Tails?" Douglas asked. "I mean, if it doesn't work and this whole thing crashed like it did when you went near that emerald at the Stadium..."  
"Nothing's even 100 positive to work, but the tests I've done indicate that there's a good chance we will pick something up if in range..."

Tails turned the craft to head towards the beach area of the city. Sonic, because he wasn't paying attention, nearly fell of the side of the glass he was on and has to scramble to keep his balance. Thus the baseball ended up smacking him on the forehead, and he lost more balance.

"Unfortunately, you have to be really close to it before anything is detected..." The kitsune added.  
"Sorry man, I'm just a little edgy..."

"Why?"  
"Well, Eggman's got one; we've got one, so there's five still up for grabs... Somehow I just don't like those odds... That and I'm getting hammered with questions about you guys, and the emeralds, and whatnot..."  
"Is it hard?"  
"Not so much hard, as like annoying, you know? I'm startin' to question who I'm hangin' out with, outside you guys I mean, in case they're just after info..."  
"What do you mean Douglas?"

"It's just... Well... Mainly it's with me and Topaz..."  
"...Somethin' wrong?"  
"I hardly see her around so much now, and it's been happening ever since she stared hanging out with us all, add to that the fact she's in the army... I'm not sure I can trust her to be honest..."

Douglas glanced over his shoulder, then looked back properly. "Hey, where'd Sonic go?"  
He opened up the glass around him a little, looking around the craft.  
"Yo! Blue Blur! Where you at?"

Sonic had one hand holding onto a handgrip on the underside of the Tornado X, and the other holding onto the baseball.

"I'm starting to see why Doug doesn't like baseball so much..." He thought, trying hard not to pay attention to the ocean below.

* * *

"You are all some of my top and most trusted advisers..." The President said, speaking to the assembled people in his room. "Which is why I speak from the heart as a person, and not off the head of this country when I say this: We are at a critical limit right at this very moment in time. Dr. Eggman is threatening the well being, and the future of our great nation, and I simply cannot run the risk of letting this madman launch another attack on Station Square, or anywhere else."

"We all share your thoughts Mr. President..." The President's aide said. "But comparing out top military capabilities against Eggman's machines, do we realistically stand a chance?"  
"Well?" The President looked at the man only known as Commander - the highest ranked member of G.U.N.

"Mr. President..." The grey haired man, with one eye green and the other blue, spoke. "We've had some of our top scientists look at some of the reclaimed machinery at our Prison Island facility... And I'm not going to lie to you Sir. His technology and weaponry far surpasses not only this country's current arsenal, but I'd go as far as saying that of perhaps most of the world combined."

"That may be so..." Christina Cooper stated. "But we can't just let sit by and do nothing!"  
"Face it, we need Sonic's help."

Everyone turned to look at Mr. Stuart, who seemed to have a glint of promise in his eyes.  
"...Go on." The President said.

"Sonic and his friends have been the only ones that have beaten Eggman. I even saw first hand how Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke, who's been associated with Sonic, defeated an Eggman machine. I'm not suggesting that we get Sonic to reveal his 'secrets of success' to us all, but..."

The President got up, and looked out the window behind his desk, thinking over what had been said.  
"Any other suggestions?" He asked, not bothering to look behind him.  
"Until we can figure out how to copy Eggman's technology, no." The Commander replied.  
"...Do you think that Sonic will agree to help us?"

"He understands our language Sir." Christina said. "He's been seen talking to the Thorndykes as well as others. There's no reason to believe he would not at least listen to a request."  
"So you're just going to walk up to wherever this hedgehog is and ask for help?" The Commander sneered at the idea.  
"Not exactly, but I have an idea in mind..." Mr. Stuart said.

"...Fine. Make whatever arrangements necessary to get it done." The President said, still looking out the window.  
"With pleasure Sir." Mr. Stuart said, with a smile.

* * *

"Douglas!" Knuckles stormed into the wrestler's room, locking eyes with the human watching the wide screen TV.  
"If it's about Amy, I swear I think she's over you now. Chicks go through stages like this, so that pimp told me anyway."  
"What have you done with my grapes?"

Douglas looked over at the echidna.  
"What grapes?"  
"MY personal stash of grapes!"  
"Oh yeah, that." Douglas turned back to the TV screen. "I heard Mr. Tanaka saying you were gonna be rationed or something after all the times you went crazy after eating lots of them."

"Until I get back to the Master Emerald, I need something to preoccupy my time here, and I am not getting into another debate with that blue idiot about how things used to be 'back in the day'!"  
"First off, everything was awesome back in the day, generically. Secondly, there's plenty of stuff to keep you occupied that doesn't involved grape-induced highs."  
"Like what?"

Douglas pointed to the screen.  
"Chuck managed to detect this transmission-thing in outer space a while back, and somehow he was able to use that to access any CCTV camera in the world. Uses satellites, or cable or something."  
"Weren't all the satellites destroyed a while ago?"  
"Not for the purposes of this fan-fic."  
"Oh. Wait, what did you say?"  
"Anyway, the point is you can see into zoos, museums, and all that kinda stuff. But I mainly use it for this."

He flipped over to an another channel.  
"Recording the shower rooms of the NFL cheerleaders."  
"...I can see the potential..."

Douglas' 'phone went off.  
"Have fun." Douglas tossed the remote to the Guardian as he walked out of his room, answering the 'phone. "Hello?"  
"Yo Doug, it's Tom here."  
"Hey, what's happening?"

* * *

"Somethin' you might be interested in." Tom replied, adjusting his sunglasses as he sat on the park bench. "One of my old tag-partners works as a trainer at the SSC Training School, and he overheard Mr. Stuart talking about some Chaos Emeralds."

"Oh yeah?"  
"Yeah, and I know how you have 'nothing' to do with that stuff, so you wouldn't be interested in knowing that there's been reports of a 'weird red emerald' at the old Scrap Brain industrial factory just out of town."  
"Damn, I must have missed that; I didn't hear it on the news."  
"Me neither. But you know how Stuart is a friend with your army girl Topaz, so maybe she slipped him some classified info or something."

"...Yeah, some shit like that. Thanks for the heads up dude; I'll check it out. Unless you wanna tag along..."  
"Thanks man, but I'm cool. Got a couple of interviews later today, so I'll catch up with you at the show tomorrow all right?"

Tom hung up the phone, before getting up and walking away. He therefore missed seeing Rouge popping her head out from the tree she was hanging in.

"Careless talk costs emeralds I'm afraid!" She said. "You never know what gossip you might pick up when you 'hang around' for long enough!"

She pulled her head back in, before flying out of the tree and into the sky again. She however also missed another eavesdropper to the 'phone conversation, who's only indication of being there was the shine of the sun on his fanged tooth.

* * *

"Well Douglas, if my memory serves me correctly, that old factory should be somewhere at the end of this road." Chuck pointed the end of a dirt trail on the map. "A lot of them were torn down and replaced with trees after the stock market plunge in '86. Historians call it the 'ACM Effect'."

"Yeah, great, but where is that factory then?" Douglas asked.  
"When the companies went out of business, the old names didn't mean anything, so they are listed on the maps." He shrugged. "We'll just have to look for ourselves."  
"All right! I'm on my way!" Sonic announced, before rushing out of the door."

"WAIT UP! Oh that god damn SON OF A...!"  
"Relax! You'll catch up with him." Knuckles stated. "He'll probably get lost anyway."  
"Okay, so who's up for a flight out to the emerald then?" Tails asked happily.

"I'm in." Douglas nodded.  
"Me too!" Amy said.  
"Chuck?" The fox asked.  
"No thanks..." Chuck waved a hand. "I just have an extra portion of pudding, and I'm feeling a little over gassy."

"Why, why the HELL did you think we needed to know that?" Douglas exclaimed.  
Knuckles shook his head. "Let's go guys..."

* * *

His arms folded across his chest, the blue hedgehog looked at the road sign in front of him. A large blue sign was on a wooden post that had the words 'FACTORY' on it. Underneath, a red arrow pointed to the road on the right.

"This isn't exactly a drain on the brain!" He stated out loud. His ears perked up; hearing the sound of the Tornado X. He turned around to see the craft in the sky, heading towards his position.

Up in the Tornado X, Amy was sat behind Tails, while Knuckles and Douglas took up the rear seats.  
"This is one of your best inventions yet Tails..." Amy said. "But are these television screens and extra sound speakers really necessary?"  
"It was another of Douglas' ideas!" The kitsune replied.

"Hey, the speakers are friggin' awesome! You can hear Deftones echoing down the whole of Main Street!"  
"That was you?" Knuckles questioned.  
"I deny all. Anyway, the TV screens let you catch up on like, news reports and stuff so it's extra useful!"

"Then why did you have me put in those DVD players and games consoles as well?"  
"Because that's the kind of stuff they do on Pimp My Ride! Have you seen how cool that stuff is?"  
"Douglas, I hardly think that..."  
"Just wait to we gets the hydraulics in this thing!"

"Look! There's Sonic!" Amy stated, pointing down at the blue hedgehog waving at them, before taking off down the right-hand road at the T-junction he was standing at.  
"That must be the way." Tails smiled, turning the craft to follow after him.

* * *

The trees and bushes rustled from the speed at which Sonic left down the road, still shaking as the Tornado X passed over head. When it had left and the rustling died down, the arrow of the sign fell off the post.

Instantly, Rouge the bat leapt out from the bushes laughing to herself.

"They took the bait hook, line and sucker!" She said to herself, flying down the left-hand road, the actual route to the factory.

* * *

It was only a short flight until Rouge caught sight of the old factory gates. Casually, she landed on the ground in front of them.

She tilted her head slightly, bemused by the rusted iron bars of the gate and the two rotten planks nailed into them that had 'KEEP OUT' spray painted onto them. Looking past them, the factory itself looked to be in worse shape.

Every window was at least partially smashed, if not gone completely. Empty barrels and wooden crates littered the compound. There were sheets of metal hanging loosely from the walls and the whole place looked like it could collapse at any moment.

She sighed, placing a hand on her hip. 'The things a girl must do for her emeralds...' She thought. 'I can't imagine how dirty it'll be in there!'

Taking to the air once again, she easily flew over the gate, and up onto where a pane of glass would have been.

Looking down, she saw a factory that obviously hadn't been in operation for years. Machinery was rusted and broken, tools were left scattered and covered in cobwebs, and the air was stale, almost to the point of being dead.

She jumped down with a flip, her high-heeled boots coming down on a metal walkway with a clank. Despite the fact that it was a bright day outside, it was very dark inside, almost in-keeping with every other aspect of the factory.

Cautiously, she walked forward along the walkway, looking around her. There was something very odd about this whole situation that she couldn't put a finger on.

Out of the corner of her eye, a glint caught her attention. Looking down, a small ray of light was shining down from a hole in the roof, and onto the dusty factory floor. In the middle of the circle of light, there was something shining off the sun's rays.

Jumping over the railing, she dropped down to the ground, kneeling in the sunlight. She smirked, about to pick up the shining object...

The click of a gun, and a barrel placed against the back of her head.

She knew that sound, and knew the only person it could belong too.

Fang.

Spinning up in a back kick, the gun was knocked up into the air. Fang flipped backwards, glancing up at his weapon, before landing and staring at the bat, now poised to attack him. She jumped up; a foot aimed straight at his chest.

The weasel dodged to the side as the bat landed. She turned around, ready to strike with a chop, but Fang blocked it, and retaliated with a fist of his own, connecting only with thin air as she ducked down and knocked him off his feet with a leg-sweep.

She stuck out with a stomp, but Fang rolled to the left side. She tried again, but this time he moved to the right. A third attempt seemed on target, but was anticipated as he caught he foot. Twisting her foot around, he caught her off balance as she fell to the ground. Leaping up to his feet, he rolled and caught his gun in a kneeled position, putting it back in its holder.

Rouge returned to her feet, and the two stood nose-to nose in the centre of the ray of light, staring straight into each other's eyes.

Suddenly a bright light blasted out right into their eyes, causing them to shield their vision. Similar spotlights were activated on the other sides of them, so four were shining on them both.

"Set-up..." Fang grumbled under his breath, lowering his hand to see a number of armed army officers, all pointing their assault rifles at them.  
"Tricked you and me both..." Rouge whispered back. "Just like old times..."  
The weasel smirked, looking at the bat who winked back at him.

"Hope you guys can back up those guns you're pointing..." Fang announced, looking around the troops. "'Cuz it looks like you're compensating for somethin' else!"  
"I'd say..." Rouge said, folding her arms and looking unimpressed. "Young boys, who can fire nothing but blanks!"

"Freeze!" Topaz shouted, slowly moving forward from the shadows, her gun pointed at the two furries.  
"What are we, ice cubes?" Fang questioned.  
"Put your hands in the air and don't move!" The army officer ordered again.

As Topaz moved closer, she pulled out some handcuff from her pocket.

Rouge smirked, as the human was about to put the 'cuffs on her. "You know, I'm not usually into bondage honey, but maybe in your case I'll make an exception..."

A shocked blush came across her face, followed by sniggers from the surrounding army troops.  
"What are you all laughing at?" Topaz demanded angrily. "Stop that! That's an order!"

Fang moved to beside the bat, and whispered in her ear.  
"Wouldn't that be weird?"  
"What, with another girl?" Rouge asked, raising an eyebrow at the weasel.  
"No, an overlander."  
The bat shrugged her shoulders. "Don't see why not. I mean, you would, right Nack?"  
He let his namesake shine through a smirk. "We know each other FAR too well..."

"Captain!" Topaz shouted out.  
"Ahem... Men, ATTENT-ION!" A voice ordered, making all the troops cease laughing at stand straight.  
"So submissive!" Rouge put on fake shock. "Maybe they like it though?"  
"Maybe you do..." Fang stated, and received a light punch in the arm from the bat. "What? What I say?"

"You two - shut up!" Topaz snapped. "And don't try anything!"  
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of leaving!" Rouge fluttered her eyes at Topaz, purposely trying to irritate her. "We've not even been introduced  
properly!"  
"You guys makin' us feel so welcome an' all..." The weasel added, picking up the shining item that attracted their attention in the first place. "Aw, what? Just some cheap coloured glass..."

"Forget the handcuffs." The captain of the troops stated, moving forward. "State your names!"  
"Rouge, Rouge the Bat." The female furry stated, adding a wink directed at the troops.  
"Fang the Sniper." The weasel answered, tipping his hat as a greeting.

"Hey! You were the weasel that was at the Diamond Stadium for that game against Eggman!" The captain recognised.  
"What ya know? I'm infamous on two planets now!" Fang smirked.  
"And you, I'll bet you were the one who stole the diamond from the National Museum, aren't you!" He demanded, pointing at the bat.  
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not..." She teased. "Who wants to know?"

"Hmm... We may not have gotten Sonic, but maybe this isn't such a bad discovery after all..." The Captain said.  
"Not as if we can go back to the President empty handed." Topaz pointed out.  
"President huh?" Rouge said. "Interesting..."

* * *

Flip Card 1 – Rouge the Bat

Full Real Name: Rouge the Bat  
Nickname(s): Bat-Girl  
Gender: Female  
Age: 18  
Likes: Gemstones, jewels, treasure, sexual intercourse (and most things relating to), Chaos Emeralds  
Dislikes: Being beaten to gemstones, jewels, Chaos Emeralds  
Identifying features: White bat, wears black body suit with pink heart chest plate, white gloves, high-heeled white boots with pink hearts on front, excessive amount of make-up

* * *

* * *

Flip Card 2 – The President – 

Full Real Name: President Dan E Limam  
Nickname(s): The President  
Gender: Male  
Age: 57  
Likes: Being calm and relax, a healthy economy, favourable popularity polls  
Dislikes: Fear, worry, protests, interviews  
Identifying features: Grey haired man, slightly large, has many lines in forehead cause by worry and stress. Can be found in presidential office.

* * *

Part 2

"Tails, we've been following Sonic down this road for hours!" Knuckles stated, very annoyed.  
"Knuckles is right, does Sonic even remember where we're going?" Amy asked.  
"I don't know..." Tails said, looking down at the speeding hedgehog, who seemed to be looking around him quite a lot. "This is very confusing... What do you think Douglas?"

"I think Sonic's having one of his idiot days, we need to stop and get some food soon, and that the third game is the best in the Silent Hill series." Douglas said, concentration on the game he was playing through the built in consol & TV. "Infinite machine gun baby! Yeah!"  
"I agree with the first two things he said." Knuckles said. "Especially Sonic being an idiot."

* * *

Topaz and the Captain stood at attention, dressed in full parade uniform, behind the two chairs, in which sat Fang and Rouge. There were in the presidential office, waiting for the arrival of the President himself.

"This guy can't be that important if he keeps us waitin' this long..." Fang said, bored out of his mind from waiting.  
"You will remain quiet unless spoken to by the President!" The captain stated. "And show some respect!"  
"...Bite my spring-tailed ass." Was the weasel's reply.  
"What did you say?"

"Cool it Nack, we're not exactly on home turf here..."Rouge said, looking at the tips of her gloved fingers.  
"Yeah yeah..." The weasel replied, slumping into his seat.  
"Besides, you two are terrible hosts." The bat stated, looking up at the humans. "What does a girl have to do for a cup of coffee around here?"  
"More like who..." Fang mumbled under his breath, pulling out a toothpick.

"Do either of you two understand the exact situation here, and the position you're in?" Topaz demanded, obviously frustrated with the lack of respect.  
"I'm just a beautiful lady being held hostage!" Rouge answered, shrugging her shoulders. "You're just a mean, and old, kidnapper..."  
"O...OLD?"  
"Ha!" Fang exclaimed, putting the toothpick into his mouth, on the opposite side to his namesake.

The Captain sighed. "Topaz, I mean, Ma'am, maybe it would help ease the situation to get the... 'Lady'... A cup of coffee."

Topaz gave the captain a death glare, before giving one to Rouge. Through gritted teeth, she turned and walked over to a coffee machine on the other side of the room.  
"I didn't sign up for this operation to serve drinks to some smart-ass bat!" She swore under her breath.

'Her name's Topaz...' Rouge thought. 'Named after a jewel... Interesting!'

At that moment, the doors into the room opened, and The President entered, followed by his Aide and Christina Cooper.

Distracted, Topaz looked over her shoulder, and accidentally poured coffee onto her hand instead of into the cup she was holding.  
"Ah!" She exclaimed, as she dropped the cup and it's contents onto the polished wooden floor.

"Agent Topaz, this is hardly the time for refreshments." Miss Cooper stated.  
"I'm, I'm very sorry Mr President, Sir!" Topaz quickly apologised as she began mopping up the spilt coffee with some napkins.

"You two are Rouge and Fang, am I correct?" The President's Aide asked.  
"Hi!" Rouge smiled, leaning back in her chair and waving.  
"The one an' only." The weasel replied, tipping his hat in a greeting.  
"Hmm... For two people in your situation, you seem far too relaxed."

The bat only shrugged her shoulders.  
"No offence to your President, but I've been through way worse than this..." Fang looked up, removing the tooth-pick.  
"We'll cut to the chase: We have a proposal for you both." Miss Cooper said.

Rouge cast a glance to the suited woman, as if indicating she wasn't impressed.  
"What kind of deal we talkin' about here?" Fang asked, sitting up in his seat.  
"I'll cancel criminal inquires into the robberies you have committed, including the diamond theft I'm informed you carried out, in return for you working for myself." The President stated.

The bat raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, but being a secretary isn't my style."  
"We mean, as in a secret agent under direct orders from the President himself." Christina stated.

Fang whistled, adjusting his hat. "Whoa, whoa whoa there! You serious?"  
"Secret agent? Why, that's such a natural step-up from being a jewel thief!" Rouge stated sarcastically  
"Don't secret agents like, put their lives on the line like all the time?" The weasel wasn't sure about this.  
"And what do you mean you'll 'cancel the inquires'?" The bat asked. "Won't people get suspicious?"

"That is not for you to worry about." The President's Aide stated. "We'll take care of that."  
"I need an answer, are you in or not?" The President asked.

Rouge leaned back in her chair, resting a hand under her chin as she thought.  
'Working for the government... Being a secret agent, it'll be easier to get information about the Chaos Emeralds...'

Fang put the toothpick back into his mouth, scratching his nose.  
"It means workin' for the man... But these guys got big bucks, plus it'll get the cops off my back..."

"Well?" Christina asked.  
"I'm in." Fang answered.  
"Don't see why not." Rouge added.  
"Excellent." The President said, standing up and extending his hand. " I look forward to seeing you in action."

Fang stood up first and shook his hand, smiling. Rouge was about to do the same when a thought crossed her mind, making her stop just short.

"Say, does this mean I have to return the diamond?" She asked.  
"Uh..." The President was unsure of what to say. "Well?" He asked, turning to his Aide.  
"Um..." Was his reply.  
"The case will be put into stalemate..." Christina quickly answered. "We'll be able to arrange it so the diamond won't need to be seen anymore."  
"Ah, of course!" The President smiled. "You see?"

Rouge smiled. "Absolutely, Sir."

* * *

"Cheap-ass sign!" Douglas cursed, pulling the signpost out of the ground and throwing it into the bushes.  
"But the arrow pointed to the right... I don't get it." Sonic explained, holding the arrow of the sign in his hand.

"All right, all right! Let's just get going to this place and check it out, it's getting late..." Douglas said, walking back to the parked Tornado X.

Sonic scratched his head, tossing the arrow over his shoulder before taking off down the correct road to the factory.

* * *

"We are approaching the target zone; all units prepare for action!" The co-pilot shouted back into the 'plane.

The soldiers all took the helmets from under their seats and strapped them on. Fang pulled out his gun, loaded up the chambers, then clicked the weapon into place, ready for firing.

"You boys all look so nervous!" Rouge teased. "You need to relax..."

Topaz took advantage of the bat talking and locked a golden wristband around left wrist. At the same time, the Captain put a similar band on Fang's right hand, the one that held the gun.

"Hey! What gives?" Fang demanded, looking at the band.  
"Nice try of a peace offering, but this isn't my style." Rouge said.  
"That's a bomb." The Captain stated.

"SAY WHAT?" The weasel said, looking wide eyed at him, then the wristband.  
"A little insurance policy for this mission. Both Topaz and myself have remotes to control them. Just a press of a button, and they'll explode."  
"Screw that! Gets it off!" Fang started shaking his arm wildly around in attempt to get it off.  
"Once the mission is over, we'll deactivate them and they'll come right off. Don't blame us, we just don't know if we can trust you yet."

"How rude!" Rouge said, turning her nose up at the Captain.  
"What's the matter, you like jewellery don't you?" Topaz said, smirking as she adjusted her helmet.  
"Diamonds are a girl's best friend, not shrapnel." Was the bat's reply.  
"Well, just do as you're told and we won't need to do that, will we?"

"Speaking of this... Thing..." Rouge tapped the wristband/bomb. "It's disgusting! Bad quality, poor taste... Say Topaz, this wouldn't happen to be one of your favourites, would it?"  
"Wh... What do you mean?" Topaz demanded, a blush coming to her face.  
"It seems to match your personality, that's all. Straight forward, to the point, looks kind of old..."  
"Okay, that's it! Press the button, right now!"

"Now I see why I got control of Rouge's band..." The Captain started to said, before he suddenly found a gun pressed into his mouth.

"Let's make one thing clear, and you can tell your President this as well: As long as you're paying me big bucks and stickin' to your end of the deal, you can trust me better than ya own blood. But try and screw me over, like THIS!" He held tapped the wristband. "You'll find yourself lyin' six feet under."

Fang pulled his gun out from the shocked Captain's mouth.  
"Oh, and if I'm gonna 'blow up', I'm takin' you with me soldier."

"We are arriving at the target, repeat: We are arriving at the target!" The co-pilot announced.  
"I... I see!" The Captain stated, regaining his composure. "To your positions troops!"

* * *

"There is nothing here!" Knuckles stated, punching a hole straight through a barrel. "We came all this way for nothing!"  
"It's hard to see anything here anyway; it's way too dark." Tails added.  
"So, were given the wrong information?" Amy questioned.

"Maybe someone played a big joke at our expense." The Guardian stated, walking over to the group.  
"Dunno guys. Maybe, or maybe not..."

"All right guys..." Douglas slid his way between to pipes, walking towards the others. "What you make of this?" He tossed over something, which Sonic was able to catch.  
"What is it?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"Dunno what its real name is, but guys on the TV use it all the time for lighting effects. Reflects the light more than normal glass so you get extra shine."  
"This is what we came for?" Tails questioned.

"Looks like we became victims of a made-up rumour." Douglas said, spitting onto the ground. "There's nothing of interest here. We're probably the only ones who been here since it closed down."

* * *

"That's Eggman's base all right." Rouge confirmed, as she, Fang and the rest of the secret service team crouched in the undergrowth, looking up at the tower of 'Eggman Island'.

The Captain took out his binoculars, and looked at the tower.

"We're well aware of that fact Rouge..." Topaz stated.  
"Where's the entrance?" The Captain thought aloud, looking over the tower again.  
"You guys don't know much about Eggman, do ya?" Fang smirked, standing up.  
"Oh, and what do you suggest?" Was his reply, looking at the weasel.

"Give me that rope!" Rouge said, snatching a length of rope from one of the soldiers. "I'll show you how it's done."  
With that, she took up into the air, flying towards the tower.

"She'll blow our cover!" The Captain exclaimed, reaching for the remote for the bat's wristband.  
"Cool it." Fang was still smirking. "She knows what she's doin'. Let's move."

The weasel started to head towards the base of the tower. The Captain looked at Topaz, who simply motioned for the troops to follow.

By the time they arrived at the bottom of the tower, the rope was waiting for them, providing a way up the tower. At the top of the rope, Rouge winked down, giving the thumbs up.

Fang returned the thumbs up, before beginning to climb up the rope.

"Eggman always has unlocked doors on a couple of levels up..." The weasel explained as he climbed, talking to the troops following behind him. "Makes it easier for his repair 'bots to get in an' out."

"But won't we be detected?" Topaz asked.

"At this time he leaves his computers to look for Sonic an' his buddies. Anythin' super fast, or flying a fancy 'plane will get noticed. Your 'plane wouldn't have gotten noticed if it was on fire!" He glanced over at them. "No offence, you just ain't up to enough to worry him."

* * *

Inside the tower, the group quickly moved in deeper, with Fang and Rouge leading the way.

"This is the way..." Rouge stated, pointing down a corridor.  
"Hold up a second!" The Captain said, grabbing the bat by her arm. "Where exactly are you leading us?"  
"Honey, I know my way around here." She replied, in a 'matter-of-fact' way. "I've slipped in-and-out of here plenty of times without being noticed."

"What about you?"  
"I ain't dealt with the Doc for a while..." Fang replied, propping up his hat with the end of his gun. "But I know my way around here. It ain't that hard to figure out."

"Besides..." Rouge said, pulling her arm free from the Captain's grasp. "With this little bomb of yours on me, I'm not exactly in a position to lie, am I?"  
"...Hold on..." The Captain press a button on a device on his leg, and an outline of Eggman's tower showed up, showing the route they'd taken so far. "All right, lead on."

As Rouge and Fang led the way once again, the Captain's device acted as a mini map, automatically tracking and drawing the route they were taking as they began to use a combination of side passages and main corridors to work their way further up the tower.

* * *

Up in the main control room, Dr. Eggman peacefully slept in his command chair with his feet up on the control desk. Today had been a relatively uneventful day, since all his projects had been coming along nicely and without any problems.

The Doomsday Project was on schedule, although having to first construct an underground bay for its production was trickier than he first thought. That was the least of his problems for it. Building, then launching it was the true task.

Another project of his was the 'Mobile Egg Fort'. A little something that was inspired by the conflict that eventually produced the Tornado X. What had failed for him in that battle was a lack of offence and defence on his part. He needed something that was not only fast in flight, but also powerful in battle.

Other projects, such as the Silver Blur, and the E-100 Series, were also coming along fine. He'd even managed to easily rebuild two of his father's earliest creations, but hadn't gotten around to powering them up yet. He had his new and reinforced Energy Amplifier read to kick-start them back into life, but hadn't gotten around to it yet.

But all these things were of no importance right at this moment, since Eggman was having a lovely dream about killing Sonic slowly by dropping bricks on him, one at a time.

* * *

"All right, the map of the complex is almost complete." The Captain stated, looking at the display of his device. "Next, we need to know where the main engine drive is located."

"The say what now?" Fang said.  
"Engine? I'm not interested in some dirty engine." Rouge replied.  
"We need to find it soon; it'll be too light soon to carry out any kind of operation." Topaz pointed out.

"So none of you two know where it is?"  
"What would I do with a main... What ever ya called it... Anyway?" The weasel said, shrugging.  
"All right men, we'll move out and retreat before it's too risky. Let's go."

The troops began to move back down the way they came, and Fang was about to follow when Rouge grabbed his arm.

"Wait a sec..." She said, something down a side corridor catching her eye.  
"Huh?"  
"Halt men!" The Captain stated. "What are you two waiting for?"

"Let me check something else, just in case..." She said looking down the corridor.  
"I'm not letting the two of you check anything out by yourselves!"  
"Oh, I'll only be just a few seconds..."

"I'll go with her." Topaz stated, moving over beside her.  
"...All right. Switch remotes Topaz."

The Captain took out the remote he held, before switching his with the one Topaz had.

"Fang, lead us out of here. You two, be quick about it. We don't have much time left."  
"Sir, yes Sir!" Rouge mock saluted, which annoyed Topaz.  
"See ya outside." Fang tipped his hat, before leading the Captain and his troops out.

* * *

"This is it!" Rouge stated, motioning to a heavy security door.  
"Great, how do we get through that?" Topaz questioned.  
"Pretty much like this..." The bat sharply kicked at the door, and a second later the door collapsed in on itself.

Flying over the rubble, Rouge looked around the large room as she landed.  
"This can't be the drive room!" Topaz stated. "There's no engines, or any kind..."

Rouge paid no attention to her, locking onto what she came here for. The Chaos Emerald sitting in the Energy Amplifier in the centre of the room. She flew over to it, and pressed her hands against the glass, looking down at the emerald.

"It's so gorgeous!" She whispered to it, unintentionally letting her hand slip down and activate a switch on the control panel, marked 'ROBOT KICK-START'.

"Rouge, what's going on here? This is no Drive Room, and what is that thing?" Topaz pointed at the Energy Amplifier, not noticing a side door open up, and robotic eyes stare out at her.  
"This is..."

Suddenly, a long metallic claw came out of the side door, and grabbed Topaz by the waste, hoisting her up in the air. He shocked screams were just enough warning for Rouge to avoid a second claw aimed at her, which grabbed nothing but thin air.

The bat flew up into the air, and watched as two machines emerged from the shadows.

The first robot, the one who was currently holding onto Topaz, was a small green robot on tank-tracks. The empty claw retracted completely into its arm, before being replaced by a sharp drill, similar to the one acting as it's nose.

The second robot was far taller, and looked almost to be a humanoid chicken, but had arms instead of wings with fists.

"You DARE to invade the great domain of Doctor Robotnik?" The chicken announced. "HA! A-HA-HA-HA!"  
"Yeah, you two are gonna be in DEEP trouble now!" The tank added.  
"Help!" Topaz exclaimed.  
"Who, what are you two?" Rouge demanded, not quite sure what she was seeing from two misfit robots.

"We are the infamous Super Sonic Search and Smash Squad! The SSSSS! I am Doctor Robotnik's loyal servant, Scratch!"  
"And I'm Grounder! And we're the Super Sonic..."  
"I just said that, bolt-head!" The chicken shouted at his robot partner.  
"You did? Geez, sorry Scratch. I'm just trying a little harder so the Doc doesn't get mad at us like last time and smash us up with that mallet."  
"Oh, I'm sure he's over that now... Hey! Look out!"

Rouge was spinning around in the air, heading towards the two SSSSS machines.

"Tornado Whirling Kick!" She called out, targeting them.  
"What'll we do Scratch?" Grounder asked.  
"She's a bat! Bat's fly, and so did that Tails guy! So this should work!"

Scratch took a deep breath in (even through robots don't need oxygen), before unleashing a version of a cockerel's morning call that was more like a high-pitched screech than anything else. It was in fact painful to hear, so much so that it forced Rouge out of her attack, making her cover her ears to try and block out the noise.

* * *

Not only was Topaz forced to do the same, but the noise was so loud that even outside the tower, Fang and the troops were forced to cover their ears.

"What is that sound? An alarm?" The Captain shouted out.  
"That ain't no Eggman alarm, that's for sure!" Fang shouted back.

* * *

Eggman himself fell right out of his chair when the noise reached the control room. He stumbled back to his feet, pulling himself up using the control desk.

"What the hell is that noise? If it's Bokkun playing with the rockets, he better have a very good explanation for this!"

* * *

Rouge dropped to her knees, still clutching her ears in pain.  
"Such a violent noise!" She exclaimed under her breath, slowly getting to her feet.

"Scratch!" Grounder said, now wearing ear guards (even though he had no ears), changing his free drill into a microphone on a long cord. "Use this!"  
"Right you are Grounder!" The chicken took the mic. "Turn it up to the max!"  
The tank's front opened up, revealing an amplifier, which automatically turned it's self up a few notches.

"Do-Ray-Me-Fa-So-La-La-LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Scratched screamed into the mic, producing an even more painful sound than before.

Rouge called out in pain again, falling to her knees.  
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Topaz screamed out. "My head feels like it's about to rip apart!"

* * *

Eggman looked up at the control monitors, while covering his ears.

"Someone's activated the Robot Kick-Start in the Energy Amplifier room! Something must be wrong with the Chaos Emerald!"

He quickly pressed a button on the panel. "Security E-13s should do the trick!" Then, another button made a small elevator cubical appear out of the floor. He stepped inside it.  
"Hopefully I can get down there before too much damage is done!" He said as the elevator lowered.

* * *

"I need... To do something!" Rouge said, straining against the noise.

Behind her, a door opened and an E-13 robot appeared, firing it's guns into the room. Rouge leapt out of the way of the shots, and nearly hit Scratch, who hid behind Grounder who in turn quickly changed his mic into a shield.  
"What's are those things?" Scractch asked, watching as another robot entered the room, and fired off some missiles aimed at the bat.  
"I dunno, but I don't like them!" Was the robot's reply.

Rouge managed to dodge the missiles, which ended up smashing into the floor, leaving a gaping hole. Topaz blinked, looked at the whole, and saw a huge engine down below.  
"The drive room!" She exclaimed.

Rouge jumped up, using a wall to leap off to gain more height, just missing another set of missiles aimed at her. Landing on the ground, the E-13 robot again fired its guns at her. Using a series of back flips, she avoided the bullets until she flipped right over the missile firing robot, which was struck by a flurry of bullets.

The machine sparked, it's circuits ruined, and released missiles aimed at no particular target. The first missile struck an Eggman back up machine that just entered the room. The second hit directly into the Energy Amplifier.

Rouge gasped in shock, seeing the cloud of smoke from where the machine had been.  
"The Chaos Emerald!"

"Come on Grounder, let's get out of here!" Scratch said, fearing for its life.

Grounder released Topaz, who fell to the floor gasping for air, and returned its arms back to drills. Scratch jumped into the tank's arms, and the tank revved up its tracks as hard as it could, taking off out of the room through the smoke.

Rouge rolled over to Topaz.  
"We need to get out of here!" The bat stated.  
"How? These robots are crazy!" Topaz replied.

An idea flashed into Rouge's mind as another missile smashed into the wall.  
"Topaz, unlock this wristband!"  
"What?"  
"Just do it!"

Topaz nodded, pulling out the remote and pressing the unlock button. Rouge pulled it off, and ran along the floor, avoiding another wave of gunfire from E-13. Jumping up from the wall again, Rouge threw the wristband down as hard as she could at the machine, sending it crashing into the eye sensor it it's 'head'.

Now blinded, the robot ran along the floor, colliding and knocking over the missile-firing machine.

"Hurray Topaz! Detonate the bomb!" Rouge shouted.  
Topaz didn't need telling twice, thumping down the big red button on the remote. The wristband then exploded, taking a small chunk of E-13 with it. The robot sparked for a moment, before collapsing.

* * *

"Are we far enough away from those robots now Scratch?" The tank asked.  
"Don't talk, keep going!" The chicken replied, as the rushed past a large man who was running in the direction they'd just come from.

Grounder put the brakes on, stopping sharply, and sending Scratch into a stack of barrels by accident.  
"Scratch! I think that was the Doctor!" Grounder said.

Pulling itself free from the barrels, the chicken stood up. "He's in danger! It's our duty as loyal subjects of his repulsiveness to protect him at all costs! Back the way we came Grounder!"

* * *

The missile firing robot sparked again, before finally unleashing the entire payload it had left up into the air.

Rogue quickly knelt beside Topaz, picking her up in her arms.  
"Let's go!" She said, before taking flight with her.

"Here we are!" Eggman stated, about to storm into the room, before he was forced to duck as Rouge flew out with Topaz.

"Out of the way!" The bat shouted as she escaped with the human.  
"Sorry!" Eggman called back. "Hey, wait a second! GET BACK HERE INTRUDERS!"

At that very moment, the missiles all impacted back onto the two remaining machines, triggering a massive explosion that Eggman couldn't avoid.

* * *

"What's going on in there?" The Captain demanded to know, looking up at the tower through his binoculars.

Suddenly, Rouge, carrying Topaz, flew out of the doorway they'd used to gain access to the tower, followed shortly by a large ball of flame and smoke that exploded around the tower.

Fang took of his hat, scratching his head with his gun.  
"...Damn!" Was all he had to say, and was all he needed to say.

"Th...Thank you Rouge..." Topaz said, looking at the bat who'd just saved her life.  
"You can thank me by not being so heavy next time." Rouge replied, flying back towards the troops.  
"...Of all the...!"

* * *

Eggman coughed and spluttered, clearing away the smoke as he stumbled into the remains of the Energy Amplifier room. He was completely covered in dust from the explosion, and was still dazed from its effects.

"Doctor! Don't go in there!" Scratch shouted, running into the room with Grounder. "There's... Oh-oh..."  
"Doctor, you look kinda different." Grounder noted. "Besides all the dirt... Hey look!"

Grounder changed a drill into a hand, and picked up a small gem. Turning the other into a feather duster, he brushed the dirt of it. "Wow! A pretty green jewel!"

"Oooooh! It's shiny! He'll love it!"  
"Here you go Sir!" The tank handed the Chaos Emerald to Eggman, who took it, before collapsing.

"...You bucket-brain!" Scratch scolded his team-mate. "He liked it too much!"

* * *

"Excuse me, Tom?" Mr. Stuart asked. "Do you know where Douglas is?"  
"Yeah, over there." Tom pointed to the man slumped at the table by the catering stand.  
"Uh, thanks."

Mr. Stuart walked over to him, and gently tapped him on the shoulder.  
"Douglas? Hello?" He shook him a little. "Hello?"

Douglas snapped awake, sitting bolt upright.  
"NO DEAL!" He shouted, attracting looks of confusion from the other wrestlers around.

"Uh... Douglas?"  
"Huh? What? Oh, sorry Mr. Stuart..."  
"You know, you should try and get a good night's sleep before you have to wrestle the next day." Mr. Stuart said.  
"Sorry, sorry Sir. I was on a bit of a wild goose chase all of yesterday."

"Oh?"  
"Got redirected away from this old factory, spent most of the evening looking for the place, and when we got there..." Douglas covered up a yawn from his mouth with the back of his hand. "...Nothing."  
"You were looking in an old factory? What for?" Mr. Stuart asked.

"...Treasure hunt." Douglas said, as if he's planned for being asked that question. "Would have won if any of my team could read a map properly."  
"Treasure hunt?"  
"Yes Sir, that's what we all agreed the excuse would be, and I'm sticking to it."

A silence followed, one that was awkward.  
"Please don't fire me." Douglas said, before collapsing onto the table, asleep.

* * *

Next Episode Preview - Voice-Over by Douglas

We heard a Chaos Emerald was way out of town in a field, and it seemed Eggman had heard about it too! But that's not all. While we're fighting over the emerald, there's an even bigger battle going down at Eggman's base!

Next time one **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: All Out War Part 1 - Chaos Theory! Don't miss it!


	12. Chaos Theory

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

Intro

"Sonic, I need to ask you something."  
"What's that Doug?"  
"Is it just me or does today really suck?"  
"Why?" Knuckles butted in. "Because nothing's happened for a long while?"  
"...Pretty much." Douglas said, staring blankly at the sky.

Douglas, Knuckles and Sonic were all on the roof of Chuck's lab, just looking up at the sky.  
"Why don't you just do something then?" Knuckles suggested.  
"Like what?" Douglas shrugged. "I'm fresh out of ideas."  
"I've gone almost everywhere I can go..." Sonic thought aloud, almost 'inspired' by the topic of conversation.

Douglas looked over at the blue hedgehog. "You mean, around here right?"  
"Yeah."  
"There's other places on this planet you know. You could try going abroad."  
"As long as there's no water to cross." Knuckles pointed out, referring to Sonic's fear of water.

"Oh yeah..." Douglas frowned. "Hmm... I'm gonna grab somethin' from the kitchen, you guys want anything?"  
"I'm fine thanks." Knuckles stated, standing up. "I'm going to investigate out of town for a while. There might be an emerald there."  
"I'm cool." The blue hedgehog answered. "You guys have fun out."  
"All right, I'll catch you guys later then."

* * *

Walking into the living from, Douglas found Cream and Cheese watch a kids TV show. To him, it looked like some weird looking monster with a huge smile was waving on the screen.

"Bye-bye kids!" It said. "See you next time!"  
"Goodbye!" Cream said, as it the creature was actually in the room.  
"Chao-Ao!" Cheese said.

"Hey Cream, hey Cheese!" Douglas spoke.  
"Hello Mr. Douglas." Cream greeted happily.  
"Chao chao!" The Chao added.  
"Cheese wants to know how you are Mr. Douglas." The rabbit translated.  
"I'm fine, you know, just looking for something to pass the time with."

The other door opened into the room, and Ella walked in carrying a tray with cutlery and pie on it.

"What's this I smell?" The maid said with a smile. "Why, it's a freshly bake pie for my special little rabbit and Chao!" She put the tray down on the table in front of Cream and Cheese.  
"Wow Miss Ella, it smells delicious!" The rabbit said.  
"Chao! Chao chao choa, chao chao!" Cheese exclaimed.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programme to bring you a breaking news story!" The TV announcer's voice suddenly stated. "We go live to the presidential house, with our reporter Scarlet Garcia."  
The TV picture changed to a packed pressroom, with Scarlet Garcia talking directly to the camera.  
"The announcement of this event was only made barely an hour ago, and there is no indication as to what the subject matter is going to be... Wait, the statement is about to be read out!"

The President's Aide walked onto the stage, and stood behind the podium.  
"Firstly I would like to that you all for attending at such short notice. The statement reads as follows: We, as law-abiding and peace-seeking people, who have worked so hard for so many years for the freedoms we now hold, refuse to back down to any form of terrorism, or live in fear of it. It is for this same reason that our country cannot, will not, and shall not surrender to Doctor Eggman!"

"What does he mean?" Cream questioned.

"I know trash-talking..." Douglas stated, "And I know fighting-talk, but that sounds to me like someone's thinking about startin' a war..."

* * *

Episode 12 - All Out War (Part 1)

Chaos Theory

* * *

Eggman leaned back in his command chair, regarding the press conference with interest. To his left, stood Decoe and Bocoe, his loyal servant robots. To his right, the newly restarted Scratch and Grounder, who had been two of the earliest robots created by his father, Doctor Julian Robotnik.

"Excuse me, but does the government have any strategy to deal with Dr. Eggman?" A reporter asked.  
"I cannot go into any details, but after several meetings between top ranks of our armed forces, a number of plans have been..."

Eggman switched off the display, laughing.  
"You have to admire their courage in not backing down to me!" The doctor said. "But what can any 'general secretary' think they can do to stop me?"  
"The people on planet are strange Scratch..." Grounder stated. "I don't like it!"  
"You get used to it." Decoe said.

* * *

Fang looked up at the TV screen, watching the press conference.

"How can you watch that?" Rouge asked, checking the tips of her gloves.  
"It pays to keep an ear to the ground." The weasel answered.  
"All work and no play... I might start to dislike you Nack." The bat teased, before walking out of the room.

Fang snorted, unimpressed.

"Sir, can you give us any information on the new landmass that's been discovered?" Another reported asked.  
"I'm afraid that information is only available to secret service and top government officials. Next question."

Fang smiled. "Ear to the ground..."

* * *

"Master Douglas, a package has arrived for you." Mr. Tanaka stated, handing it over.  
"Funny, I wasn't expecting anything..." Douglas said, opening it up. "...Huh? Dog tags?" He held up the tags.  
"The card says they are a gift from Mr. Stuart." Tanaka held up a card.  
"Guess he isn't mad about me fallin' asleep the other day."

Douglas shrugged, putting the tags on around his neck.

"Hey Douglas!" Amy called. "Tails has the Tornado X ready!"  
"I'm on my way!" The human answered.

* * *

Knuckles effortlessly climbed up the side of the cliff, quickly driving his fists into the rock as he travelled upwards. Reaching the top, he pulled himself upwards and stood at the top.

Looking around him, he could see the whole of Station Square.  
'City life...' He thought. 'So strange, it's driving me crazy!'

He knelt down, scooping up some dirt in his glove.  
'It's been so long since I've seen the Master Emerald... Since I've seen the Floating Island...'

His fists clenched up, grains of earth slipping out and back onto the ground.  
'What would my ancestors think of such a thing? Unable to carry out my duty as Guardian, trapped in another world...'

* * *

In a car park outside a shopping mall, Mr. Stuart sat in his green car, watching the display screen of the GPS tracker.

Fitting a tracker inside of some simple dog tags had been very simple, and the system was working perfectly. He could tell right now that Douglas had to be flying over the city in the Tornado X. But it had been a stroke of genius to also fit a bug in the other tag, so he could listen in to what was being said.

"You know, there's bound to be a Chaos Emerald around here somewhere." Stuart heard Douglas' voice say.  
"Of course there is!" Amy stated. "We just need to find it first."  
"That's easier said than done Amy." Tails pointed out.

Stuart checked the display, and noticed that the tracker showed that Douglas was fate approaching his position. A second later, the Tornado X flew over head and into the distance.

Starting up the car's engine, Mr. Stuart pulled out of the car park and began following the craft as best he could.

* * *

"This is Eggman's base?" The President asked, pointing to the tower on the scale model of Eggman Island.  
"That is correct Sir." The Captain confirmed. 

Sat around the model were the President, Rouge, Topaz, Fang, Christina Cooper, and the Captain. Also in the room were high-ranking generals of the army, navy, air force, secret service and G.U.N.

The Captain leaned forward, and carefully removed the tower from the model.  
"Here, in the base of Eggman's tower, is the engine drive room."  
The President nodded as the Captain put the tower back in place.  
"Its location was confirmed by agents Topaz and Rouge after our reconnaissance mission."

The President smiled. "Good to hear the operation went well, and that you worked together peacefully. It's good to have you as part of the team Rouge."  
"Not a problem Sir." Rouge said. "But I couldn't have done it without my good friend..."  
Topaz looked over at the bat.  
"...Fang the Sniper!"

Topaz sighed, guessing she should have seen that coming.  
Fang smirked. "I do what I do."  
"Excellent." The President said. "Now, shall we discuss the plan?"

"Of course Sir." The Captain agreed. "Would you like to take over General?"  
"Oh, so you did all the work yourself?" Topaz directed to the bat.  
"Certainly all the hard work..." Rouge replied, not even bothering to look at her.

The army General stepped forward, pointing to the model.  
"The navy and air force will mount an initial frontal assault on Eggman's base directly towards his tower base."  
"Won't Eggman be able to detect the incoming forces?" Christina asked. "He'll easily be able to launch a counterattack."

"Exactly!" The General stated. "While Eggman concentrates his forces on dealing with the attack..." He tapped the area of sea behind Eggman Island, furthest away from the tower. "...Special forces troops will infiltrate from the rear, making their way into the tower itself. Once there, they will destroy the engine room, and that will leave Eggman helpless against us!"  
"The Special branch have requested that Rouge and Fang be a part of their team." The navy general stated. "They already have insider knowledge of the location and the enemy, so would be invaluable to the operation."

Topaz leaned over to the Captain. "Does that include us?"  
"I can't be sure. It seems we don't have as much of an impact around here as they do." He looked over to the bat and weasel.

"What of Sonic?" The President asked.  
"Sir, it seems that there was confusion the last time, and Sonic was unable to..."  
"Well, no matter. It just so happens I've sent an envoy to take care of it."

* * *

"Just remain calm men..." The President's Aide said as he pressed the front doorbell of the Thorndyke mansion. "Nothing rash, just take it nice and easy."  
"Just a minute!" Ella called out from inside. Shortly after, the door opened and she answered the door. "Good morning Sir, can I..."

The man standing in front of her seemed familiar. In fact, he was the man speaking on the TV earlier today.  
"You... You're the President's Aide!" She said, shocked to see him.  
"Excuse me, my name is Jerome Wise. Is Sonic here?" He asked.

Ella remembered that she saw Sonic having a rest on the roof of Chuck's lab just a moment ago, but she was very suspicious as to why someone working directly for the President would want to speak to him. Plus, Douglas mentioned that this man was talking like a war was going to happen soon.  
"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Ella replied, folding her arms. "Who are you looking for? What is a Sonic?"

"Uh... I think you misunderstand me, I'm here to speak on behalf of the President himself with Sonic. We hope he will be able to help us in an upcoming battle against the tyrant Eggman, and in return the President gives his word that Sonic and his friends will become honorary citizens of our country, with the freedom to travel where they want!"  
"I am sorry, but I don't understand a word you're saying!" Ella shook her head, acting as if this was all unknown to her.  
"Please, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about... Uh..." He took out a small book from his suit pocket, and flicked through a few pages. "Ah yes, Ella."

"What? You know my name?" She wasn't expecting that.  
"We know all about you, the echidna, the little rabbit, all of you." Jerome said.  
"I... I... You're a crazy man, I told you, I dunno what you're talking about!"  
"Now see here, I'm being more than reasonable with you..."

Ella had had enough, and slammed the door shut, locking it.  
"...Hey!" Jerome began knocking on the door. "Enough of this nonsense! We know Sonic's in there!"  
The door opened again, and Ella threw a whole bucket of cold water right in Jerome's face before slamming the door shut again.

The two bodyguards looked at the President's Aide, then each other.  
Jerome's eye twitched. "Aren't you two... Supposed... To protect me?"  
"There was nothing at the training school about attackers with buckets..." One of them started to say.  
"YOU CALL YOURSELVES BODYGUARDS?"

"Ella, who was that at the door?" Tanaka asked as he came down the stairs.  
"Some President Aid he is!" She stated, storming past the butler as she went up the stairs. "Good for nothing! The sky will fall on my head before I answer to the likes of him!"

Tanaka stood on the stairs, pondering what he'd just been told, before deciding that he had better just ignore it and hope that it would go away.

* * *

"Oh, is that so? Well, thank you." Christina put the 'phone down. "It seems he was unable to contact Sonic directly." She said, speaking to the President.  
"Ha! There's your 'hero' hedgehog for you!" The Commander of G.U.N. said. "Just as I predicted it up to ourselves to eradicate this Eggman scum ourselves."

"That's easy to say now that there's no other options left..." The President said, looking down at the model of Eggman island.  
"You need to chill Sir..." Fang said, propping up his hat with the barrel of his gun. "We're just as good as that hedgehog, and there's two of us."  
"Nack's right." Rouge said, standing up, "We're on your side Mr. President."  
"Of course! Excellent!"

Rouge smiled.  
'That Chaos Emerald I saw...' Rouge thought, remembering the last battle at Eggman Island. "This may be my only chance to get it!'

A junior agent then entered the room, looking very out of breath.  
"Mr President, Sir!" He saluted. "We've just received word from agent Stuart that the Tornado X is leaving the area of Station Square, we at least Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke on board!"

* * *

"...Repeat, the Tornado X is leaving the city. I will continue monitoring its flight-path as best I can, over." Mr. Stuart said into his radio.  
"Roger that, continue mission as planned." A voice replied. "In addition, do not jeopardize your cover at any point. Remain at a safe distance at all times, you cannot be detected by Smicktor or the animals. Over and Out."

Stuart hung up the radio, glancing down at the GPS screen, then at the Tornado X in the sky.  
'Where are you heading to Douglas?' He thought to himself.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Tails said. "Look! The Chaos Emerald's picking up on something!"  
Amy leaned over, looking at the gem. "Hey, you're right!"  
"Where's it coming from?" Douglas, in the rear seats of the craft, asked.

"The radar says... South-East!"  
"Which way's that?" The human asked, looking over his right shoulder.  
"Hold on guys, I'm gonna make a turn!"

Hitting a quick boost from the engines, the Tornado X sharply turned around, head back in the direction it had been travelling in.

* * *

Stuart checked the display again, then had to do a double take on it.  
"They're heading back this way?" He questioned. "I'll have to head off the main highway..."

He hit the brakes, turning the car around as he did so, making the car face the other direction and heading back after the Tornado X.

* * *

"It's around here!" Tails announced. "I'm coming down to land!"  
"What, in a cornfield?" Douglas questioned.

Expertly, Tails brought his 'plane down to land in an empty track made in the middle of the cornfield. As he did some last minute checks, Douglas opened up the glass around him and looked around.

"Man, you mean to tell me there's a Chaos Emerald hiding out amongst all this stuff?" The human shook his head.  
"Don't you like corn?" Amy asked.  
"KoRn, sure, but this is a bit much..."  
"Don't worry about it!" Tails said, pressing a button. "Watch this!"

A burst of steam shot out from underneath the craft, and it's rear engines raised up, along with the rear passenger seats. The engines them selves became covered up, before their frames split open. Sliding and locking into place, the engines now acted as huge legs for the rest of the craft's body, that was now raised up high above the ground.

"This is AWESOME!" Douglas shouted, leaning out and looking down at the field below. "Like a real life transformer baby!"  
"What's going on Tails?" Amy asked.  
"This is Tornado X's alternative form: the almighty robot 'X Whirlwind'!" The kitsune rubbed his nose. "I designed it myself."

Douglas pulled a six-pack of beer from under his seat, pulled a can free and opened it up, letting the froth splash onto the side of the X Whirlwind.  
"I hereby name this machine 'The Hyper Bitch'!" He shouted, before necking the beer.  
"All right everyone, now we'll find that emerald!" Tails announced, pushing forward on his controls, making the machine walk forward through the field.

"They've stopped..." Stuart noticed, looking at the GPS display. "Have they found a Chaos Emerald?"  
He grabbed his radio, speaking into it. "Attention home base, do you read me?"

* * *

Flip Card 1 - President's Aide

Full Real Name: Jerome Wise  
Nickname(s): n/a  
Gender: Male  
Age: 41  
Likes: Press conferences, classified information, meeting foreign dignitaries  
Dislikes: Being upstaged, not being in control of a situation  
Identifying features: Always smartly dressed in a suit, short brown hair, blue eyes. Usually seen on official business at the Aide to the President

* * *

Flip Card 2 – Christina Cooper

Full Real Name: Christina Cooper  
Nickname(s): n/a  
Gender: Female  
Age: 37  
Likes: Files in order, a peaceful atmosphere, general law and order  
Dislikes: Confusion, depression  
Identifying features: Takes great pride in almost perfect appearance. Long dark hair, wears glasses. Works as a secretary/consultant for the President

* * *

Part 2

"You think the emerald's here?" Douglas asked, looking down at the patch of earth he, Tails and Amy were standing around.  
Tails nodded, rubbing his nose as he thought about it.

They'd managed to find the spot where the most reaction of Chaos energy was coming from, but when they climbed out of the X Whirlwind; there wasn't an emerald to be found lying amongst the tall corn.

"But if it's buried underground, how do we get it out?" The pink hedgehog asked.  
"Well the 'obvious' solution is to dig the thing out!" The purple-haired human answered. "Unfortunately I've left my non-existing mining equipment at home... If Knuckles hadn't taken off to look by himself, he could dig it up no problem I bet..."  
"Hey, why don't we use the X Whirlwind to dig it out?" Amy suddenly had an idea.

Tails suddenly froze; his eyes becoming wide as if he'd just witnessed a horrific murder, or the script for the Sonic OVA movie.  
Douglas smacked himself in the forehead. "Bah! Of course! That thing is an ass-kicking super-power Megazord of a robot! Just shifting some dirt should be a breeze for it!"

The kitsune went very pale as he talked. "That would be true... If it could dig..."  
"SAY WHAT?" Amy and Douglas exclaimed, sweat drops appearing on their heads.  
"You mean to tell me..." The human said. "That your machine can change from a jet aircraft to a walking robot, can fire missiles and lasers, has huge friggin' surround-sound speakers and TV screens, BUT you can't use it to dig a little emerald out of the ground?"

"...Yeah..." Tails said sheepishly.  
"...Meh, can't be helped." Douglas shrugged, causing Amy and Tails to face-fall. "I mean, it's designed to be an aircraft, originally. Not a drill..."

"So what'll we do?" Amy asked, talking through the ground.  
"Maybe there's some tools in the farmhouse just over there." The human pointed in its direction. "I saw it as we were flying over. I'll go check and see if there's anyone there who can help out."

* * *

"Mr President!" Christina said. "Agent Stuart reports that Douglas and some of the animals have located a Chaos Emerald in farmland a few miles out from Station Square!"  
"...Has Eggman left his base?"  
"No Sir." The air force general stated. "No activity has been noted from Eggman Island."  
"Good, it means one less of those things in the hands of that villain."

"Sir!" The army general stood up. "This is the chance we've been waiting for! Eggman is after those emeralds as well, so if we lure him out after it, then we can attack his base while he away!"  
"That isn't such a crazy idea when you think about it..." The Commander said.  
"What do say Mr. President? Shall we seize this moment?" The general asked.

The President turned and looked out of the window, as if looking at the sky for answers.  
"Mr. President?" Christina asked, unsure if her was listening.

The army general's hands twitched, eager to get out and start the battle. The navy and air force generals looked at the President, hoping also to get the command to begin.

The Commander of G.U.N. watched the room carefully. Although his organisation was not going to be directly involved in this conflict, its outcome would greatly effect it.

Christina stood nervously by the telephone. The idea of an All Out War frightened her, and she was beginning to question (as she had when Dr. Eggman had first appeared) her choice of career.

The Captain and Topaz also watched the President, both anxious and nervous to know his decision.

Rouge just looked down at the model. She wanted the President to agree, so she could get that Chaos Emerald that Eggman had.

Fang wasn't paying attention to what was happening in the room at all. He'd just finished reading some classified reports on the new landmass that had been found, and from its description it was a very familiar place.

The President breathed in deeply, before exhaling. He turned around and looked at the room with a serious expression on his face.

"Begin the assault."

* * *

Knuckles' ears twitched the sound of a siren catching his attention. Jumping off the cliff, he pushed his fists forward, catching the wind and gliding across the treetops before latching onto a rock face and beginning to climb up.

Upon reaching the top, the echidna found himself looking down at an army base in scramble mode. Troops were running out and climbing into fighter 'planes, while others were preparing craft for takeoff.

"All units prepare for take off, I repeat: All units prepare for takeoff." A voice ordered over the noise of the siren. "This is not a drill, repeat: This is not a drill."

Knuckles stood, his arms folded over his chest, looking down at the scene.  
'What is the meaning of this?' He thought.

* * *

"Agent Stuart this is home base, do you copy?"  
"Rodger that." Stuart said, picking up the radio.  
"All Out War is now in effect, repeat, All Out War is now in effect."  
"They've begun the attack already?"

"Negative, preparations for deployment have begun. Your mission objectives have now been modified; your mission is now Operation Chaos Theory. We are about to tap into Eggman's communication line, informing him of Chaos Emerald located by Smicktor-Thorndyke. Once lured out of his compound, the assault will begin. You are to continue to monitor Smicktor-Thorndyke, the animals and, upon his arrival, Dr. Eggman.

You must remain undetected, but keep a track of any activity, specifically their departure and any sight of the Chaos Emerald. Over and Out."

* * *

"Now I just want you to take a look at this tablecloth ladies and gentlemen..." The infomercial host said, holding it up. "It's just covered in all kinds of nasty spills and stains! We're talking coffee, homemade spaghetti, some red wine, and little Billy left his boots on it as well, so there's some mud on this as well!"

"They dedicate a whole TV channel to showing dirty items?" Eggman was confused, watching the TV screen.  
"It's so confusing!" Bocoe said, rubbing its metallic head.  
"These people are crazy." Scratch added.

"But look! Just a quick spray of our brand new Cinos cleaning spray..." The host sprayed the tablecloth with the bottle. "And a quick rub with the Eso-Reh cleaning cloth, and..." The host rubbed the middle of the large stain with the cloth in his hand, before revealing the stain had gone. "Even though it's still the same old thing you've seen over and over, you'll be easily fooled into thinking it's brand new!"

"Amazing!" Decoe stated. "He just wiped it all away!"  
"Wow, I want one!" Grounder said. "No, one of each! Then I can have one in each arm!"

"Ha!" Eggman laughed. "This is the latest technology they can come up with? I bet they still think digital watches are a pretty neat thing!"  
"But... Lord Eggman, the stain..."  
"I am supposed to be surprised by such things? If these people weren't so clumsy then they wouldn't have to clean up any mess!"

"You can pick up this must-have item for just 50 easy payments..." The host started to say, before the TV picture started to get all fuzzy, the sound breaking up into static.  
"Oh, uh, what's that I hear?" A voice, attempting to imitate that of the host said over the distorted picture. "A Chaos Emerald's been found in the cornfields outside of Station Square?"

"What? What did he say?" Eggman suddenly became very interested, as the TV picture changed to a map, clearly marking the cornfield in question.  
"Yes, that's right!" Another voice said. "I've heard little foxes with big jet 'planes are looking for it!"  
"Oh, how interesting! Now, uh, back to the show!"

The picture snapped back to the original infomercial.  
"Remember, you home may be at risk if you fail to keep up the payments..."

"Get me my cards!" Eggman demanded, pressing a button. "So Tails and his Tornado X have found another Chaos Emerald have they? Well that's just fine!"  
"You mean another pretty stone?" Grounder asked.  
"Hey! A built-in slot machine!" Scratch said, pointing to the three slot reels now on the display screen. "This is way better than the old Robotnik!"

"Here are your cards Sir!" Decoe brought the pack forward to the Doctor, who took them and shuffled them out before putting them into the slot in the machine.  
"Let's go!" He said, pulling the lever and starting the reels.  
"I want a go next!" Grounder said, excited.  
"Don't disturb Lord Eggman at his work!" Bocoe said to the SSSSS robots.  
"Shut up, short-stuff!" Scratch threatened.  
"Yeah, short-stuff!" The green tank added, even though he was the same height as Bocoe.

"A-Ha!" Eggman exclaimed as the reels finally stopped. "E-35 will do just right!"  
"It's a big fat bird!" Grounder said.  
"HEY!" Scratch exclaimed.  
"Not you, birdbrain!" Decoe pointed to the pictures of the large yellow bird-shaped robot with a large engine in its stomach on the reels.

* * *

"Mr. President!" Christina said. "Intelligence has just reported that Eggman has departed from his base, along with another of his machines!"

"The generals will already know..." The President mused, finishing off the cup of coffee, one of many he'd had since giving the order to begin the operation. "...Iacta alea est..."

* * *

"All units move out immediately! Operation All Out War is in effect!" The loudspeaker of the army base announced. "The assault on Eggman Island begins now!"

"Eggman Island?" Knuckles questioned, grabbing a hold of the fence surrounding the base. "They're attacking Eggman's base?"

* * *

"Attention Agent Stuart. Eggman and one of his machines have just departed from Eggman Island. It is unknown how long it will be before he reaches the emerald. Be vigilant, over and out."

Stuart said nothing, concentrating on the road ahead. The GPS showed that Douglas wasn't that far way, but he wasn't worried about that. The news that Eggman was on his way meant that All Out War was about to begin, something far more troubling.

* * *

Douglas panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead, before digging the spade deep into the ground and tossing the dirt out of the hole he was making. The farm he reached only had a single spare shovel, so he had been digging by himself for a good while now.

"You're doing great Douglas!" Amy encouraged.  
"Yeah, you're nearly there!" Tails added.  
"That's what you said five minutes ago!" Douglas said, glaring at the animals.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew over them, as dark shadow briefly covered them.  
"What the hell was that?" Douglas demanded.

A large robotic yellow bird with a huge jet-engine in its centre landed at the other side of the field from them, squashing corn under its 'feet' as it landed.

"Oh-hohohoho!" Eggman laughed, bringing himself and his Eggpod down by the machine's 'head'.  
"Eggman!" Douglas exclaimed, recognising the Doctor.  
"Quick, do something Tails!" Amy said, getting very worried.

Tails nodded, flying up and sitting in the pilot's seat of the X Whirlwind.

"So, where's this Chaos Emerald that I've heard is around here?" Eggman demanded, watching as the X Whirlwind turned around to face him and E-35.  
"You're not getting your hands on this one!" Tails stated, staring up at the Doctor. "I won't let you!"  
"Ha!" Eggman laughed. "You dare stand before me? You don't have your hero Sonic here to save you I see!"

"Sonic... He should still be at home." Douglas said. "I need to call Chuck and get through to him!" The human tosses the spade to the ground, before turning and heading through the corn.  
"Go get him Tails!" Amy shouted up.

"Here goes!" Tails said, pulling up on his controls. As he did so, the engines of the X Whirlwind's feet burst into life, lifting the machine up while locking back into their regular position, returning the craft into the Tornado X. Once in the air, the craft raced forward, heading straight for Eggman's machine.

"Fun-Fun! Show this insolent kid what you've got!" Eggman commanded, pointing at the incoming jet 'plane.  
In response, E-35's huge engine roared into life, spinning around. But instead of taking it into the air, it was using the engine as a huge fan, blasting air straight out in front of it.

"AH!" Tails exclaimed, trying to keep the Tornado X in flight as it shook violently against the force of the air coming at it. The craft remained in the air, but seemed almost to be stuck where it was, despite the fact that its engines were still providing forward thrust.

"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Amy screamed, caught up in the wind and sent flying back into the air before landing deep in the corn of the field.  
"AMY!" Tails shouted back, suddenly realising what had happened. But in that moment of distraction, he lost control of the Tornado X, and it was forced down to the ground by the air force against it.  
"That's it!" Eggman encouraged. "We've got him down now!"

The force of the air coming from E-35 was now so strong that it ripped the corn out of the ground, clearing a straight path in front of it.

Running as fast as he could manage, considering her was worn out by the digging; Douglas looked behind him to see what looked like a tidal wave of corn chasing him.

"OH SHI...!" He exclaimed, before being caught up and swept away by the wave.

Moments later, the wave of air came right at the old farmhouse, ripping the old wooden barn and fixture right from the ground and away into the distance as if they had never existed at all.

"What's going on?" Tails said in frustration, trying to force the controls so the Tornado X would get back into the air.  
It wasn't working. In fact, E-35 was pushing the craft back away from it along the ground, scraping the jet 'plane along the cleared path.  
"What's the matter Tails?" Eggman mocked. "Are you having fun with Fun-Fun here?"

Someone who certainly wasn't having fun was Douglas, who was sprawled on the ground just away from the field, knocked out and bleeding from the forehead thanks to the spade he had been using before, which collided with his skull when he was caught up in the wave.

Even worse, the force of the air had ripped his dog tags off his neck, and was carrying them far away into the distance.

* * *

"I'm almost there..." Stuart said, before glancing down at the GPS screen. "What?"  
The screen showed that Douglas seemed to be moving very quickly away from where he had been, in a completely new direction.  
"Have they found the emerald already?" He questioned, quickly turning his car around. "I need to get after them and find out!"

He sped back down the way he had come from, following the tracking signal to its new location.

* * *

The convoy of navy battle ships and air-force fighter craft were coming up over the horizon, heading towards the small island that was the base of Doctor Eggman.

"This is squadron leader one calling in to all squad team one members." The pilot of the leading fighter 'plane said over the radio. "We are now in range of the target. Fire at will."

With that, he hit the fire button, unleashing missiles directed at Eggman's tower. Shortly after, the rest of the 'planes in the front pack did the same, along with the navy ships leading the sea forces, all targeting the base of the evil genius.

* * *

"I don't get it." Scratch said, looking at the pack of cards. "Why does Lord Eggman name them with numbers?"  
"Weren't you given a number?" Decoe asked.  
"Robotnik called us all kinds of names..." Grounder said. "But a lot of them weren't very nice, and he always shouted them at us. Usually when we failed to catch the hedgehog."  
"You know, there's two cards missing from this deck!" The robotic chicken stated. "E-99 and..."

Suddenly, the whole tower was rocked as the missiles struck into the outside, causing the four robots in the command room to fall over onto each other.

"AHHH!" Bocoe screamed out. "What's going on?"  
"Hey! Look!" Grounder said, pointing a drill out from the bottom of the pile he was under at the display screen. "Strange clouds of smoke with things on the end of them!"

Scratch squawked in fear. "Missiles! Lots and lots of vicious exploding missiles!"  
"We're under attack!" Decoe got out of the pile, running up to the control panel. "The human army of this planet is attacking us!"  
"What? They dare to try and destroy the home of the great Eggman?" The robotic chicken stated.

"We must counter-attack!" Bocoe stated, raising a fist in the air.  
"Oh-boy, oh boy!" Grounder said excitedly, changing his drill arms into rockets. "Eggman's gonna be proud of us when we smash those guys up!"

"For the glory of Eggman!" Decoe declared.  
"EGGMAN!" The robots called in unison.

* * *

A hatch in the side of Eggman's tower opened up, and two robots flew out of it into the air, followed by a turret like robot that landed on the sand at the tower's base.

Raising its missile launcher up to the sun, it fired off three long missiles into the air.

"This is squadron leader one calling in to all forces!" The pilot of the leading fighter 'plane said over the radio again. "A counter-attack is being launched! Use extreme caution when proceeding!"

The missiles fired came crashing down into the ocean on either side of the leading gunship, before a final missile stuck down hard on its deck, leaving a flaming explosion.

In the air, a flying E-13 was unleashing it's guns as it perused one of the fighter jets, striking the engines and sending it spinning out of control down to the ocean below. At the same time, two air-force craft were trying to gun down an E-11 that was coming straight at them. The bird-like robot was too quick, out flying the bullets and smashed straight through one of the 'planes just before the pilot ejected safely out of it.

* * *

"Anyone order a dogfight?" Fang stated, looking up at the explosions in the sky.  
"That's our cue to start." Rouge said, pulling the black material of her 'stealth' body suit over her mouth, just leaving her eyes uncovered.

Fang looked back at her, not understanding the purpose of it since it had a similar pink heart over the chest area like her usual attire. He then looked to the troops of the squad, which included Topaz, before back to the tower.

They'd snuck onto the island no problem, but would it be as easy getting into the tower again?

'I swear Fang, if any of the Freedom Fighters heard you were fightin' against Eggman by doin' this stuff they'd have a heart attack!' He thought to himself, pulling his gun out and cocking it, ready to fire.

Rouge flew up into the air, over the rocks they were hiding behind, and Fang climbed up after her. Topaz looked back, giving the signal to move out, before also following.

* * *

"We're nearly all set up Mr. President." The cameraman said, making some final adjustments to his lens.

The President was worried, and not because this could effect his re-election. How could anyone be calm when they are about to announce they've started an All Out War?

"It's a cloudy day today..." The President looked through some of the prepared speeches given to him. "No, no good... Never before have so many given... No, too old fashioned... Four score and seven..."

"Excuse me, Mr President?"  
He looked up at Christina, who handed her another script. "Perhaps you should start formally."  
He nodded, pushing the others aside and straightening his tie in preparation for the most important announcement of his life.

* * *

"We'll have to go back to that news story another time, I'm being told that we're going to a live statement from our President." The news reporter stated.

"Hey sis!" The green hedgehog stated, pointing at the TV screen. "This might be interesting!"  
"If it's another programme about catching small animals in balls, I'm not watching!" The purple hedgehog answered.

_"People of our great nation, this is your President speaking."_ The President said. _"As of a few moments ago, the fighting men and women of our navy and air force began an all out assault on the headquarters of the tyrant known as Doctor Eggman."_

"Did he say Eggman, Manic?"  
"You've got ears Sonia! He said it all right!"

* * *

_"Eggman, who has not only threatened the peace of our country, but has attempted to destroy our cities and enslave us all to his so-called 'Eggman Empire'._

"We have to tell Mr. Sonic!" Cream said in alarm, quickly jumping off the seat of the living room sofa.

"Chao!" Cheese said, climbing down off it and chasing after the rabbit, but fell face first onto the carpet as it did so. "Chao-Chao!" It said, picking itself up and going after her again.

* * *

_"He has made it clear that his goal is nothing short of complete world domination over us all."_

The fierce dogfight raged on, as army jet 'planes engaged Eggman's defensive machines, while the navy ships continued to launch missile assaults onto Eggman's tower.

As bravely as they were fighting, the human troops were clearly being outmanoeuvred and overpowered by the machines. E-11s were driving themselves straight through jets as E-13s blasted others into fireballs.

_"That is completely unforgivable, and unacceptable!"_

In the midst of the conflict, a small bomb planted at the base of Eggman's tower exploded, leaving a large gaping hole. Rouge flew down and into it, as Fang climbed down on the rope to the hole.

The weasel looked to the bat, who gave the all clear for him to follow in. He in turn looked up to the human troops and signalled for them to come down as well.

* * *

_"There are some that have said that Eggman is too powerful a foe for us to defeat, that he is far superior in strength, intelligence, and technology. I cannot say that I have not thought the same."_

"All available offensive and defence aircraft prepare for launch!" The loudspeakers announced. "All available weapons are to be loaded up, and ready to fire!"

"You heard him!" The lead technician said. "Get those missiles on them, and fix that loose panel on that fighter!"  
"Yes Sir!" A young engineer said, screwing the panel firmly into place.

Knuckles watched from inside the small space that he'd hid himself in as the screw was put back in, sealing him inside the fighter jet.  
'These people can't possibly beat Eggman.' He thought to himself. "As dangerous as this is, it's my only way to get out to this battle!"

"Second wave of offence, move out!" The echidna heard the loudspeakers announce, and he felt the jet he was in move out onto the runway.

* * *

_"But as a man, who lives and breathes the freedom and the rights that we have struggled to maintain, I truly believe that there is no robot or machine from any planet than can defeat the spirit of our great nation."_

"Hurry Mr. Sonic!" Cream said, holding a tired Cheese in her arms.  
"Tails!" Sonic called, bursting into the garage of Chuck's lab. "Get the Tornado X ready to..."  
The rabbit gasped. "It's gone!" She squealed.

At that moment, Chuck walked down the stair holding a cup of tea.  
"Looking for Tails?" He asked, sipping the tea. "He, Amy and Douglas went out in the Tornado X a few hours ago, and they haven't come back yet."  
"Where could they have gone?" The blue hedgehog demanded. "And why now?"

Chuck laughed a little. "Now you know how Douglas felt all the times you ran off!"

* * *

_"No form of terrorism, violence, or even bullying on any scale can be, or should be allowed to exist in any form."_

Mr. Stuart scratched his head, bending down and picking the dog tags off the grass.  
"This is strange... How did these suddenly land here?"

He stood up, putting them in his pockets.  
"I should go back and check out the field..." He said to himself, walking back to his car.

* * *

_"I speak from the heart when I say that I truly, and I mean deeply, wished, hoped and prayed for a solution other than this."_

Amy panted, running with her hammer in one hand, and a number of pegs that she had been using to escape from the air of E-35. Douglas didn't seem to be moving, and she getting worried about Tails as well.

"Come on Douglas!" She said, moving the shovel off his body and turning him over.

She stood back and screamed in shock at what she saw. Douglas' face was a crimson mask, coated with his own blood. She looked at the shovel, and it too had drops of his blood on it.

He groaned, sitting up slightly.  
"A...Amy?" He questioned; wiping whatever was in his eyes away so he could see. "What happened?"  
"Doug...Douglas! You're...!"

The human looked at his hands, and noticed they were now stained with a red liquid.  
"...Bleeding?" He looked up at her.  
She simply nodded in reply, unsure what to say or do.

Douglas smiled. Not a friendly smile, or a happy smile. But a smile more befitting of a complete psychopath. One identical to the one the government had of him on file, and that Topaz carried around in her chest pocket.

Grabbing the spade, he stood up and asked only a simple question, as if the fact that the blood running down his face was irrelevant.  
"Where's Tails?"

* * *

_"But against an unreasonable foe such as Eggman, who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of world domination, we must fight fire with fire, and be burned if necessary."_

Tails was gritting his teeth, straining his arms as he pulled back on the controls, bringing the X Whirlwind up to it's feet, and turning it to face Eggman and Fun-Fun.  
"I will NOT lose to you Eggman!" Tails roared, looking at the Doctor with such intensity that he had never used before.

Eggman stood up in his Eggpod, smiling with his hands on his waist.  
"You impress me Miles Prower." He said. "Here I was thinking you'd be forever a sidekick for that annoying hedgehog, but it seems since we've been on this planet you've found a backbone." He stroked his moustache for a moment. "It's a shame you won't be able to make something of yourself, as you can't possibly beat E-35!"  
"What did you say?" The kitsune demanded.

The Doctor chuckled for a moment. "Sorry to crush your hopes, my intellectual rival, but my machine isn't even at all full strength just now!" He snapped his fingers. "Have some 'fun'!"

E-35's engine spun into a higher gear, and Tails instantly felt the effects of an even stronger air force than before as the wind battered against the X Whirlwind.  
"Let's see how long you can stand up against THAT!" Eggman taunted, grinning at the straining machine in the wind.

Trying as best he could, the X Whirlwind was being forced back, it's 'feet' scraping along the dust of the ground. Eventually, the pressure was too much, and the machine buckled to its 'knees'.

At the same time, another tidal-wide of corn and earth had built up, rushing towards the craft. Tails could only scream out in despair as the X Whirlwind was sent flying high into the air.

* * *

_"I had hoped not to see any kind of major conflict during my term as President, but I have seen during these few short months since Eggman's arrival so much destruction and violence, that it was almost inevitable that this day would come."_

On the mainland shoreline, a lone cloaked figure stared out at Eggman Island, and the battle going on around it.

"Such bravery in this face of impossible odds... Scenes not seen since the fall of Julian Robotnik..."

He looked up to the sky, his old face smiling. It was only a matter of time now.

* * *

_"I am by no means a warmonger, and I strongly disapprove of any form and type of violence. But it is clear that the likes of Eggman can only see things in black and white, so it us up to our fighting men to force some colour into his eyes."_

Mr. Stuart's car speeded down the road, heading back to the original cornfield.  
'Hopefully I can get to it before...' He started to think, before noticing a shape in the distance. 'Is that the Tornado X?'

Suddenly his windshield was struck by a large amount of corn and leaves, forcing him to slam on the breaks.  
"What's going on?" He exclaimed, suddenly realising that although he had stopped the car, it was going backwards thanks to a hurricane-like wind coming at it.

He grabbed a hold of his mobile 'phone, dialling a number up, while pulling another device out of his pocket that looked like a strange voice-recorder and switching it on and holding it to his mouth.

"Hello, is this the house of Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke?" His now distorted voice asked down the 'phone.

* * *

_"I do not exaggerate when I say that we are facing an_ _All Out War_ _here, and one that we are willing to fight to the bitter end."_

"Yes, this is Chuck Thorndyke speaking." Chuck said, a little confused by the strange sounding voice on the other end of the line. "...What? Douglas is in grave danger? The Cornfields outside of Station Square? What do you... Hello? Hello?" Chuck threw the 'phone down.

"Who was it Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked.  
"He hung up, but that's of no importance right now." He answered, before looking at Sonic. "Douglas went with Tails and Amy in the Tornado X. With this All Out War going on, they might be in grave danger!"  
"I've run past those fields before." Sonic stated, standing up. "I'm save them!"

The blue hedgehog then rushed down the stairs, out of the Thorndyke Estate, and onto the main road heading out of town.

* * *

_"I only ask you all to hope and pray that victory comes at little cost to the lives of our fighting men and women. Thank you for your time."_

"...My... My princess? What are you making of such things?"

"...Get the Freedom Fighters together. It's about time we introduced ourselves to this planet.

* * *

Next time on **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: All Out War Part 2 - The End of the Beginning.

Don't miss it...


	13. The End of the Beginning

**Sonic** _e**X**cluded_

I do not own Sonic, Tails, Amy etc. Douglas Smicktor is my character, so you no use.

* * *

This 'Brand New World' Storyline (Episodes 1-13) is dedicated to Koji Okida aka Kojiokida2.  
Your adaptations of Sonic X inspired me to do this whole fan-fiction.

* * *

Intro

"I'm sorry to cut you off there, but we'll have to go back to that news story another time..." The news reporter stated. " I'm being told that we're going to a live statement from our President."

The people walking around the shopping mall stopped and looked up at the giant display screen under the clock, as the image of the President appeared.

"People of our great nation, this is your President speaking." He spoke, a deadly serious expression on his face. "As of a few moments ago, the fighting men and women of our navy and air force began an all out assault on the headquarters of the tyrant known as Doctor Eggman."

"Eggman, who has not only threatened the peace of our country, but has attempted to destroy our cities and enslave us all to his so-called 'Eggman Empire'. He has made it clear that his goal is nothing short of complete world domination over us all. That is completely unforgivable, and unacceptable!"

"There are some that have said that Eggman is too powerful a foe for us to defeat, that he is far superior in strength, intelligence, and technology. I cannot say that I have not thought the same. But as a man, who lives and breathes the freedom and the rights that we have struggled to maintain, I truly believe that there is no robot or machine from any planet than can defeat the spirit of our great nation."

"No form of terrorism, violence, or even bullying on any scale can be, or should be allowed to exist in any form."

"I speak from the heart when I say that I truly, and I mean deeply, wished, hoped and prayed for a solution other than this. But against an unreasonable foe such as Eggman, who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of world domination, we must fight fire with fire, and be burned if necessary."

"I had hoped not to see any kind of major conflict during my term as President, but I have seen during these few short months since Eggman's arrival so much destruction and violence, that it was almost inevitable that this day would come."

"I am by no means a warmonger, and I strongly disapprove of any form and type of violence. But it is clear that the likes of Eggman can only see things in black and white, so it us up to our fighting men to force some colour into his eyes."

"I do not exaggerate when I say that we are facing an All Out War here, and one that we are willing to fight to the bitter end. I only ask you all to hope and pray that victory comes at little cost to the lives of our fighting men and women. Thank you for your time."

Hushed and worried whispers were exchanged between everyone, quickly discussed the announcement. Among them, the current S.C.C. Heavyweight Champion, who took of his sunglasses and stared in disbelief at the screen.

"What the hell are you involved in Douglas?" He questioned out loud.

* * *

**Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_

Episode 13

All Out War

Part 2

The End of the Beginning

* * *

Part 1

"Where are they coming from?" Decoe exclaimed, frantically checking the monitors as they showed jet-planes and battle-ships coming towards the island.

"It's like a plague!" Grounder stated, covering his eyes with his drill hands. "A big nasty plague of death!"  
"We need more missiles!" Scratch stated, razing an arm and pointing a finger in the air. "We'll blow these evildoers out of the air!"  
"Affirmative!" Bocoe said, pressing a large button with a missile painted on it.

* * *

Knuckles' fists clenched up, listening to the roar of the air passing by the craft's wings mixed with the sounds of explosions.

There was a hell of a battle going on outside, and it was making him twitchy.

A lot of it had to do with the fact that he was on edge anyway, since he was away from his duty as guardian of the Master Emerald. Add to that his general loathing of Sonic, the mutual respect he and Douglas had, and what had happened between him and Amy.

He was about ready to punch someone's head clean off its shoulders. And right now he didn't care who it was.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" He heard the pilot scream. "More enemy projectiles comin' right for us!"  
He felt the plane quickly dodge and duck, as a barrage of missiles was fired up at the formation of aircraft.  
"Do a friggin' barrel roll!" The pilot screamed again, spinning the craft.

Knuckles covered his eyes. All these sudden movements were making him a little dizzy.  
"We are now in deployment range!" The pilot spoke. "Open hatches now!"

Below him, Knuckles saw the craft's hatch open up, and the blue ocean far, far below. He could see many battle ships firing, and being fired on.  
He also noticed that he was sitting on a rather large missile.

"Unleash hell boys! Give that Eggman what he's got comin' to him!"

The missile was dropped from the craft, and within seconds it's engine kicked in, sending it flying forward towards Eggman Island with Knuckles gripping onto it.

The guardian let out an almost primal scream, grinning wildly as he stood on the front end of the missile, watching incoming missiles pass all around him.

If it weren't for his duty as Guardian, he'd want to do this sort of thing all the time. Just like Sonic does, which is a big part of why he envies that hedgehog so much.

Jumping off, he extended his arms out in front of him, catching the air and easily gliding towards the tower and latching onto it with his fists. Once securely on, he began climbing up, as the missile he had been on missed the tower completely, crashing into the forest behind it.

* * *

"Let's keep moving team!" Topaz reminded, as she, Rouge and Fang lead the infiltration team. "We may not have much time to complete the operation."

They were marching down corridor after corridor, following the map they had collected in their earlier mission. They were all pretty nervous, although the bat would be the last to admit it.

"Hold up!" Rouge suddenly said, coming to a stop and extending her arms, knocking over an unprepared weasel in the process.  
"What is it?" Topaz asked, as the rest of the team stopped as well.  
"Can you guys feel that?"

The sounds of the battle outside ringed out, before they all felt a pulsing series of shudders travel through the ground.  
"Somethin's comin'." Fang stated, picking himself off the ground and pointing his gun down the corridor.

Sure enough, slowly a large machine emerged from around the corner, walking towards them.  
"Standard patrol 'bot." The weasel stated. "They still don't know we're in yet."  
"Come on!" Rouge announced, suddenly leaping forward.  
"Rouge! Wait!" Topaz called out in alarm.

* * *

"Home base, situation is still unknown." Mr. Stuart said into his radio, watching as the hard winds battering his car were gradually forcing it backwards. "I am pinned down, unable to identify the cause of..."

He car suddenly swerved around, facing the other direction.  
"Damn it! I can't do anything right now!"

* * *

"But Douglas!" Amy pleaded with the human, who was pulling her back towards where Tails and Eggman had been. "You need a doctor or something!"  
"Screw that!" He replied, wiping a drop of his own blood away from his mouth. "There'll be plenty of time for that when I kill Eggman!"

He glanced up at the sky, before having to look again.  
"Get down!" He exclaimed, grabbing Amy and leaping to the ground.

Moments later, the X Whirlwind came crashing down, flattening corn as it did so.

Douglas shouted something that probably contained many swearwords, but the roar of E-35's engine drowned it out.  
"What's wrong?" Amy cried out in terror, the wind rushing over her head.  
"Keep down!" Douglas, spitting out some dirt he'd caught in his mouth.  
"Tails!" She exclaimed, glancing over at the downed craft.

Unfortunately, the fox didn't hear her. The sudden crash-landing had caused his head to whip against the control display, knocking him out cold. As a result, he was unaware that Fun-Fun was using one of it's huge 'feet' to stomp down onto the craft.

"Tails! Get up! AIEEEEEE!" She screamed out, the wind catching her and sending her flying through the air.  
Douglas watched the hedgehog fly off into the distance, confused thoughts running through his mind. One being 'white panties?'.

Eggman roared with maniacal laughter, watching his machine go to work.  
"Yes!" He encouraged. "Stamp away E-35! Flatten that pathetic machine and that bothersome fox into a distant memory!"

* * *

"Agent Stuart, remain in position as best you can." The radio voice said. "All available forces are currently in action against Eggman Island. We are trying to contact the nearest force..."

Suddenly a blue blur whizzed past Stuart's car, grabbing the attention of the secret agent.  
"Home base!" He said. "Sonic has just passed my position! Repeat, Sonic has just passed my position..."

Suddenly, another blur passed his car, but not as fast as the previous one.  
"...As has... A large van?"

* * *

Amy shook her head, collecting her thoughts after that crazy ride in the wind.

Suddenly, she was scooped up and was travelling back the way she had come from.  
"Sonic!" She exclaimed happily, hugging her arms tightly around his neck.

The hedgehog simply grinned, knowing that he was going to have some kind of test ahead.

* * *

"Victory is mine!" Eggman laughed again. "Finally mine!"  
"Great..." Douglas said, looking up at the doctor. "We're all gonna die by a machine that causes wind. Humanity sucks."

He then saw Sonic rush past, still carrying Amy.  
"...Humanity sucks a little less now."

The next thing he knew, suddenly a cloud of dirt appeared, forcing him to cover his eyes. Coughing, he fanned away the cloud with his hand. Blinking, he suddenly found that a large van was in front of him, blocking the wind.

He stood up, just as the doors of the van opened.  
"...Are you two the cavalry?"

* * *

"Finish him!" Eggman ordered. "Finish him now... WHAT?"

He looked down, to see the grinning face Sonic, easily jogging on the spot, unfazed by E-35's wind.

"SONIC!" He roared. "Get him Fun-Fun! GET HIM!"

But before either Sonic or the machine could act, the ground beneath them began shaking, as if a mini-earthquake was hitting them. Strangely, while the hedgehog just felt it, it was actually affecting E-35, causing it to stumble backwards off balance.

Stranger still, Sonic could swear he heard a kick-ass drum solo as well.

Without warning, a sudden energy blast came out of no where and nailed Fun-Fun right in the head, sending it toppling over onto its back. That time the hedgehog was sure the sounds of perfect keyboard playing accompanied it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Eggman roared in despair, as Fun-Fun's wind was now pointing straight up at him, and was sending him and his Egg-Pod high into the air, out of visible sight.

Tails groaned, blinking and rubbing his eyes, watching as E-35's engine coughed and spluttered, before finally shutting down, allowing blades of grass and pieces of corn to fall to the ground.

"Sonic!" He said, opening up the cockpit and jumping down to the ground. "You saved us!"  
"Uh, not exactly..." Sonic scratched the back of his head, putting Amy down.  
"Yo Sonic!" Douglas' voice announced. "I think you owe these two something for this!"

Sonic turned around, blinked in disbelief, then smiled the biggest grin he'd smiled in a very long time.  
"SONIA! MANIC!" He said, running up to the two hedgehogs, and the three embraced in a huge group hug.

"Whoa whoa there!" Douglas said, leaning against his shovel again. "Time out! First of all, who are you guys?"  
"Dude! These are my family!" Sonic happily announced. "My bro Manic, and my sister Sonia! We're the Sonic Underground baby!"  
"...Dude, they can pull musical instruments out of necklaces..." The human said. "Instruments that can fire lasers... That's like, the awesomest thing ever."

"Hey man, do you know you're bleeding?" Manic, the green hedgehog that looked quite like Sonic, except he wore a red jacket, had spiked wristbands, and his spines stuck out more.  
"I've had worse..." Douglas waved the fact off.  
"Great, our brother has been corrupting more people..." Sonia, the purple hedgehog in a dark purple and red body suit, stated.  
"It's worse than that..." Amy said, running up with Tails. "Douglas was like that BEFORE we got here."

"You mean he's always bleeding?" Manic was confused.  
Sonic laughed. His siblings hadn't changed a bit.  
"So you guys got sent here as well huh?" He asked.  
"As well?" Sonia asked. "You mean there's even more of Mobius on this planet?"

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.  
"Hold up, wait wait wait..." Douglas stated. "There's something... Something I'm forgetting about... It's kinda important..."  
"The Chaos Emerald!" Tails remembered.

"Dig it out!" Douglas ran back over to where he'd been digging before, and started shovelling dirt out as hard as he could. "Out with the bastard!"

"I've seen it all now..." Sonia stated. "An Overlander that's mad, but DOESN'T want to take over the world..."  
"This planet is awesome!" Manic stated, jumping up and down excitedly.  
"Do you guys have a first aid kit?" Amy asked. "I have a feeling Douglas isn't going to a hospital anytime soon..."

"RUNAWAY!" Douglas shouted, waving the shovel in the air as he ran behind the group of furries. "It's alive!" He pointed at Eggman's machine. "IT'S ALIVE!"

The robotic eyes of its head glowed into life, as it slowly began to self-right itself to a vertical base. Already, it was kick starting its main engine back into life again, preparing to blast away with more high-powered winds.

"Sonic!" Amy stated. "We found a Chaos Emerald using the Tornado X! We were going to dig it out when Eggman attacked!"  
"Tornado X? What's that?" Sonia asked.  
"That transforming son-bitch over there..." Douglas pointed to the craft. "Made and flown by Lord Tails!"  
"Sonic!" Tails said, leaping into the cockpit and pressing a button. "Use this!"

The blue hedgehog smirked, easily grabbing the power ring as it flew out of the hatch of the X Whirlwind. He looked up at E-35, now back on it's feet, and clasped his hands around the ring. Immediately, the glowing energy began flowing through his body, powering him up.

In a split second, Sonic was curled up into a ball, revving on the ground, before dashing along the ground, leaving a trail of dust behind him. Just a few feet way from Fun-Fun, the hedgehog leapt up, still in a ball, and smashed right up through the engine, then out the back of it, leaving a thick trail of smoke behind.

"I will not be denied!" Douglas announced, again digging away at the patch of ground. "YES!" He threw the shovel down, digging with his hands into the dirt.  
He then stood up, an arm up in the air, holding the yellow Chaos Emerald. "I am the greatest World Emerald Digging champion of all time!"

"Congratulations Douglas!" A voice said.

The human blinked, his eyes looking to his left side, and then to his right. He scratched his head. With the hand that had been holding the emerald.

'Odd.' he thought, looking at the empty hand, before putting it back into the air above him.  
"...GOD DAMN IT!" He said, looking up.

Above him, Eggman was smiling. A claw coming from his Egg-Pod was holding the yellow Chaos Emerald, and dropped into the Doctor's hand. Eggman then quickly left, flying off into the distance.

"...I am loser?" Douglas questioned.

"We were so close..." Amy frowned.  
"Relax guys!" Sonic reassured. "We'll get them back from Eggman."  
"You know, despite the fact we all hate that guy..." Manic said. "He's got some guts leaving his base while it's under attack."

"SAY WHAT?" Sonic, Tails, Amy and Douglas exclaimed.  
"You don't know?" Sonia was confused. "It's been on all the news channels! The President ordered an 'All Out War' against Eggman Island!"  
"When did it start?" Tails asked.

"About half an hour ago."  
"That's when Eggman arrived." Amy pointed out,  
"Guys, can we figure this out later?" Douglas asked. "We need to get after him, get the emerald, and... Hey, am I bleeding?"

"Tails, get the Tornado X ready." Sonic stated. "Let's see if we can crash this party at Eggman's place."  
"Sure thing!" The fox stated, running over to the craft with Amy.  
"You guys down for running as the Underground one more time?" He asked his brother and sister.

"Just try and stop us!" Manic replied.  
"Well, if we're gonna do that..." Sonia pulled out something out of her pocket and threw it to the blue hedgehog. "You'd better wear this."

Sonic grinned at the necklace he held, and put it on.  
"Come on Doug, it's time to kick it 'old school' Underground style! You down?"  
"Like a hip-hop rapper wants bling 'round his neck!" The human said.

The sound of rapidly clicking metal caught his attention, and he looked over his shoulder to see that the X Whirlwind had transformed back into the Tornado X.

"Yo, but how we gonna follow on land?" He asked.  
Sonic grinned. "You're gonna love this..."

They all got into the van, closing the door as they did so. Manic jumped into the driver's seat, and hit a button. Booster rockets on the underside kicked into life, lifting the van off the ground. A wing suddenly popped out from each side of the van, and the wheels transformed into engine rockets.

"This is travelling in style!" Sonic said, grinning.  
"...Dude! I mean, just... DUDE!" Douglas said.  
"Hold still..." Sonia pulled out a bandage and some pads from a first aid kit. "I'll patch this up no problem."

"Sonic Underground, do you read me?" Tails' voice asked over the radio.  
"Loud and clear Double T!" Manic replied. "Lead the way!"

* * *

"...I repeat, Eggman has just left the area." Stuart said over the radio. "Also, the violent winds seem to have stopped. I am proceeding with caution..."

He stopped talking when he saw the Tornado X, and what appeared to be a van with wings, fly off into the distance.

"...Sonic is in pursuit..." He was cut off again when the sound of Fun-Fun exploding filled the air.

* * *

"Is that all you've got?" Rouge mocked, easily back flipping out of the way of the guard robot's arm as it came crashing down into the ground.

"Don't just stand there!" Topaz said to the weasel. "Shoot it!"  
"Not just yet..." Fang said, his gun pointed at the machine's legs.

Rouge continued to roll, easily avoiding another attack by the robot's arm.  
"Now!" She called out.

Fang fired away, blasting the exposed legs of the machine. Sparks flew out the holes as it buckled, before it crashed through the floor, leaving a large hole and a cloud of smoke.

"Good going hotshot." Rouge winked at the weasel.

* * *

"Stupid screen!" Scratch stated, looking at the image of the infiltration team being shown. "This is no time for TV shows! Show me the missiles!"

The computer complied, showing a picture of fighter planes launching missiles.

"This is bad, this is real real bad!" Grounder said. "Lord Eggman is gonna be real mad if we don't stop these guys."  
"AH!" Bocoe exclaimed. "There's a new craft on radar coming towards the island!"  
"Blast it! Blast it to death until it dies twice!" Scratch said, pointing a finger heroically in the air.  
"No one gets through the great Eggman's defences!" Decoe stated, pressing down hard on a button.

* * *

"Can't I leave this place alone for any length of time?" Eggman questioned, looking down at the smoke around his base. "It's those new robots isn't it? They have no idea how..."

At that moment, a panel opened up in the tower, and a barrage of missiles flew out, aimed directly at him.

"ARGH!" He exclaimed, quickly dodging the attacks. "Those idiots! What are they doing? Do they dare to attack their creator?"  
An explosion behind him caused him to look back. He saw the large number of aircraft and battle-ships, and figured out what was going on.

'So, it becomes rough-and-tumble?' He thought, before having to dodge a missile that smashed into the tower. 'The story begins, but who's gonna win? Ha! I'll give these people a fight alright!'

* * *

The huge crowd that had now gathered in the middle of Station Square looked up at the image of the ensuing battle between the armed forces and Eggman's defences.

"The battle doesn't look like it shows any sign of slowing down at all..." The voice of Scarlet Garcia said over the images. "Missiles are just flying from both sides, explosions are everywhere, and I can hardly... Wait! What's that?"

The image changed to show the Tornado X and the Sonic Underground van in flight.  
"Two more aircraft are approaching the battle!" She said

In the crowd, Tom pointed up at the screen.  
"That's the Tornado X!" He shouted out, catching the attention of many people around him.  
"Tornado what?" Someone asked.  
"What he say?" Asked another.

"Hey, I remember that 'plane!" Albert Butler said, pushing past some people to stand next to Tom. "The little guy Tails had it."

"The second craft..." Scarlet continued. "Two people are leaning out of..." The camera zoomed in, showing Sonic and Douglas (who now had his head bandaged up, but his face had patches of dry blood on it). "One seems blue... Blue, hedgehog?"

"It's Sonic!" Tom shouted again. "Douglas as well!"  
"Sonic?" People questioned.  
"Why, that blue hedgehog!" Emer Johnson appeared through the crowd, standing beside Albert. "Him and his friends played that fine last game at the old Diamond Stadium."

Whispers went through the crowd, some recognising the event, others still confused. The screen then showed a close-up of the hedgehog's face.

"That's Sonic!" The three men said. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"

* * *

Flip Card 1 - Sonia

Full Real Name: Sonia Hedgehog  
Nickname(s): Sonia  
Gender: Female  
Age: 15  
Likes: Shopping, playing music, her family  
Dislikes: Rowdiness, stupidity, her brothers being themselves  
Identifying features: Purple hedgehog, wears a purple and red bodysuit. Wears a necklace with a medallion that can turn into a special keyboard with offensive capabilities.

* * *

Flip Card 2 - Manic

Full Real Name: Malcolm Hedgehog  
Nickname(s): Manic  
Gender: Male  
Age: 15  
Likes: Playing music, rebelling, thieving  
Dislikes: Getting caught stealing, order, boring stuff  
Identifying features: Green hedgehog, wears a red jacket and spiked wristbands. Wears a necklace with a medallion that can turn into a special drum kit with offensive capabilities.

* * *

Part 2

"Man..." Douglas shook his head, as he, Sonic and Sonia leaned out the side-door of the van. "It's a total war zone out here!"  
"I've never seen so many ships and 'planes in one place!" Sonia stated.  
"Eggman must have his hands full!" Sonic smirked.

"It might keep him busy, but there's no way the army can beat Eggman!" The human stated. "Like Chuck said, they aren't on the level Eggman is on!"  
"All right! Then I guess we'll just have to finish the job they started!" The blue hedgehog stated, looking far ahead at Eggman Island.

* * *

"Princess, we're almost at the island."  
"Once we get ashore, we need to get into that tower. Our first port of call is the Main Engine Drive room!"

* * *

"Up ahead!" Topaz said, motioning to the large door up ahead. "The room where the Main Engine Drive for the base is behind that door. All we need to do is..."

She was interrupted when a large metal arm suddenly crashed through the wall behind them. Emerging from the hole created was the guard robot they had encountered earlier.

"Looks like he came back for more." Fang said, twilling his gun in his hand.  
"They always do." Rouge smirked from behind her mask.  
"He only has one robot to guard the corridors?" Topaz questioned, as she and the other troops backed away.  
"Eggman is probably using all the machines he can to take on the forces outside." Rouge shrugged. "Don't you worry about it, me and the Fangster here will take down this piece of junk."

Fang raised an eyebrow to the new nickname, but pointed his gun at the approaching machine.  
"Move out troops!" Topaz ordered. "We'll secure the target room!"

Rouge leapt up, flying over the robot's head and causing it to swing upwards, striking the roof. At the same time, the human soldiers ran towards the large door. But before they were even close to it, the floor in front of the door suddenly opened.

Topaz froze, as a row of E-13 turret robots rose up from the floor, and all pointed their guns at her and her troops.

'This is getting really annoying!' Rouge thought, leaping from one side of the corridor to the other, narrowly avoiding the machine's arms while Fang blasted away at its legs with his gun. It seemed that it was now faster than before.

She blinked, suddenly finding herself not moving in the air. She then realised that she was now caught in the clamp-like hand of the robot's arm.  
'Of all the nerve!' She thought, struggling against the robot. 'Molested by a filthy robot!'

Sparks then flew, as Fang expertly shot an opening between the armour plates in the robot's arm, sending it crashing from the rest of the machine and freeing Fang in the process.

"Guess I owe you one Sniper." Rouge smirked, rolling away from the robot to beside the weasel.  
"Guess so... Topaz! Duck!" he warned.

Topaz and the troops hit the deck, laser fire blasting over their heads and into the walls.

A loud roar then filled the air, as a red echidna suddenly burst out of the floor, smashing the guard robot's head clean off its shoulders, send it to the ground.

"Knuckles!" Fang exclaimed.  
"Who?" Rouge had never seen the echidna before.

Knuckles wasted no time, jumping up and easily gliding over the laser fire, before smashing into an E-13. In a few short moments, his fists were swinging as if he was in a heavyweight boxing match, easily taking apart machine after machine. When the smoke had cleared, he was standing on top of a pile of broken metal, having destroyed them all.

"Knuckles!" Topaz said, getting up. "What are you doing here?"  
"I caught a lift..." He said, brushing some dirt of his shoulders. "Although, I could be asking you the same question... I don't think Douglas knows that getting involved with full-scale wars is part of your day job."  
"Uh..." She sweat-dropped.

"Great." Fang sneered. "I got saved by the Guardian. I'll never liveTHIS down."  
"Huh? Fang?" The echidna recognised the voice. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.  
"We're here against Eggman..." Rouge said, eyeing up the echidna as she moved through the troops towards him. "We're going to destroy the engine room, and take out the machinery in this base."

Knuckles laughed. "You do realise how out of your league you are if you think your troops can beat Eggman, don't you?"  
"Yes, we know!" Topaz stated. "But that hasn't stopped us from coming this far!"  
"...Really?" Knuckles was slightly impressed by their courage. "Then I'll help you guys out."  
"You will?" Topaz was pleasantly surprised.  
"After all, I am a Guardian from another world!" Knuckles proudly folded his arms, posing. "I can't allow Eggman to do evil in any world!"

Knuckles' moment of glory was ruined when Fang started laughing his head off.  
"What? What are you laughing at weasel?"  
"Oh, nothing!" Fang stated sarcastically. "Oh great and righteous Knuckles!"

Rouge licked her lips, which was hidden by her mask. Sure, Fang was cute, and she couldn't resist his 'outlaw'-look, but boy was this guy built like a house!

* * *

"YOU IDIOTS!" Eggman roared, sitting down in his command-chair and facing the screen. "The four of you can't deal with this planet's pitiful excuse of an army?"  
"We're sorry Lord Eggman..." The robots said together.

"Decoe! Take this emerald..." He threw the yellow Chaos Emerald to the gold robot. "And Bocoe, get the one from the Energy Amplifier! Then load them both into E-01!"  
"Sir! Are you serious?" Decoe was shocked.  
"But E-01 is..."  
"DO IT!" The Doctor roared, causing the two robots to run out of the room.

Eggman stared at the image of the Tornado X and the Underground van coming towards the base.  
"This is the final straw hedgehog!" He sneered, slamming a fist down on a dark red button on his chair. "I'll kill you, your family, your friends, and everyone else who dares to stand against me!"

"Code red initiated." The voice of the computer spoke. "All anti-hedgehog missiles being readied for immediate launch."

* * *

"Sonic!" Tails called out in alarm over the radio. "My radar's just detected even more missiles down at Eggman's base! Looks like he's pulling out all the stops!"  
"Strap yourselves in!" Manic warned, clipping on his seatbelt as Sonia closed the van's door. "Might be time to do some friggin' barrel rolls!"

* * *

Eggman's command chair suddenly rose off the ground, as a large hole opened up underneath it. From it, a different version of his Egg-Pod rose up, and the command chair clicked perfectly into place in it, before the Egg-Pod closed up completely, it's roof locking Eggman inside.

"I don't like this at all!" Scratch cried out in fear.  
"Let's get out of here!" Grounder said, as the two ran out of the room, fearing for their lives.

Eggman laughed as the Egg-Pod lowered into the ground, it's inside display showing a radar enhanced image of the incoming furries. He grabbed a hold of the control stick, placing a thumb over each trigger button.

"Where are your Ancient Walkers now?" He roared, hammering down on the buttons like a man possessed.

* * *

"Look out everyone!" Manic warned, turning hard to avoid the incoming missiles.  
"My goodness!" Sonia gasped as the van was forced to spin out of harm's way. "He's not holding anything back!"  
"Tails? You all right?" Sonic asked, grabbing a hold of the radio.

"Sonic! The missiles aren't even trying to hit us!" The kitsune replied.  
"They're not even going after the ships or the planes anymore!" Amy's voice added.  
"He's after you Sonic!" Douglas stated. "You've gotten that guy seriously pissed!"

More missiles blasted up into the sky, all trying to destroy the craft currently holding Sonic.

"Man, I don't know how many more of these I can dodge!" Manic stated. "They're comin' fast and furious!"  
"Hang on guys!" Tails said. "I'm coming!"

* * *

"This is certainly a startling turn of events ladies and gentlemen!" Scarlet announced. "The attacks from Eggman's base now all seem to be directed at this 'flying van', which we now know contains Sonic the Hedgehog, and professional wrestler Douglas Smicktor-Thorndyke."

"It's gonna get shot down!" One of the people in the crowd stated.  
"There's too many missiles coming at it!" Another said.  
"No way!" Tom shouted. "Come on Sonic! Let's go Douglas! Kick some damn ass!"

* * *

The Tornado X turned around, heading directly for the next barrage of missiles aimed at the Underground van.

"Tails! What are you doing?" Amy asked, very confused.  
The fox didn't answer, instead pressing the trigger button on his control stick.

The plane's front guns began blazing, firing at the mass of projectiles. Within a few seconds, they began exploding in a chain-reaction, before there was only a thick black cloud where they had once been.

Amy squealed in delight, reaching over the seat and hugging Tails.  
"That was amazing!" She said, not noticing the huge blush coming over the fox's cheeks.

* * *

"Incredible!" Scarlet said, just as amazed as the people gathered in Station Square were at what had just happened. "The missiles have been blasted out of the sky! And I think... Yes! We're able to pick up audio from the flying van now!"

They saw the side door open, and Douglas leaning out of it, giving the Tornado X a big thumbs-up as if flew past.  
"THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!" He shouted out, before head banging as if he was in a heavy-metal music concert.

The crowd all roared loudly in approval, cheering at the unbelievable spectacle they were witnessing. Tom, caught up in the moment, began chanting 'Douglas!' over and over at the top of his voice. Somewhere in the crowd, a little girl in a wheelchair starting chanting 'Sonic!' over and over.

Soon enough, the whole of Station Square was chanting both of their names as loudly as they could. For one news cameraman, who thought he'd drawn the short straw by being told to film the crowd, he would soon be getting a huge raise in wages for recording a clip that would become part of the city's history.

* * *

Tails fired the Tornado X's guns again, but this time at the tower of Eggman Island. Like a pro, he'd shot at it so it created a perfect circle-outline of bullet holed, but purposefully not enough to make it collapse away. He knew Sonic would need a target to home in on.

"There you go Sonic!" The fox said over the radio. "It's all yours!"  
"Go kick Eggman's ass!" Douglas encouraged, patting Sonic on the shoulder as he leaned out the door.  
"Be careful Sonic!" Sonia said.  
"Kick some butt bro!" Manic said.

Sonic flashed his trademark grin, then leaped hard out of the van, heading downward at great speed through the air. Within a few seconds, he'd zoned in on the work Tails had done on the tower, and curled up into a ball, smashing right through the wall.

Douglas looked down at the smoke left by the hedgehog, before noticing something on the sand on Eggman Island. It looked like someone had left a boat down there for some reason.

"Guys!" Tails voice called again. "The missiles have stopped!"  
"He's right!" Sonia said, looking around. "There's nothing coming at us!"  
"I guess Eggman really wants to finish off our blue bro this time!" Manic stated

* * *

Wiping some dirt off of his arms, Sonic took off down the corridor he was in. If he knew all of Eggman's bases well enough, then it wouldn't take him long to find where the Doctor was hiding.

Sure enough, it didn't take him long to find the big door with the Eggman Insignia on it. He smirked. All he had to do was bust through this door, and then teach that Eggman a lesson.

"So it comes down to this..." He heard Eggman's voice echo down around him, causing him to look around. "It seems that even in another world, it always comes down to a final battle between you and myself..."

The large door slowly began to open up, revealing a large open circular room.

"Every time you seem to charge into my base, cause havoc, then ruin my plans... But not today!" The Doctor stated, anger filling his voice.  
"Is that a challenge?" Sonic said as he smirked, running into the centre of the room.  
"It's your death sentence!" Was the instant reply.

The doors into the room suddenly snapped shut, locking the hedgehog inside the room. The next thing he knew, the floor he was standing on began to shake slightly. The sections of the floor nearest to the walls suddenly collapsed away, leaving Sonic standing on a platform suspended by four pillars, one placed when the main directions would be on a compass.

"What my father failed to do during his rule, shall become my first act as master of this, and every world!" Eggman announced. "Welcome to your Final Stage!"

A dim red light flowed down from a hole that opened up in the ceiling, as a new machine began lowering into the room.

A completely reinforced metal shell surrounded the Egg-Pod, with protected rocket boosters on the back.  
On both sides, a long metal arm with clasping metal hand on the end stretched out, with 'E-01' printed on each hand.  
A red hood covered the top of the pod, with many deadly sharp spikes on it.  
Eggman himself looked sinister as he stared down through the reinforced glass shield, looking in disgust at his opponent.

Just underneath him, the words 'The Final Stage' were printed in dark red.

"My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik!" The Doctor said, patting the panel where the two Chaos Emeralds were in. "And I will go down in history as the man who finally KILLED Sonic the Hedgehog! It's Game Over for you!"  
"Bring it!" Sonic challenged, still unfazed by his threats.

He was a little less confidant when he narrowly avoided the robotic fist that came crashing into the ground where he had been standing.

* * *

"Command, this is Topaz." She spoke into her radio. "All the bombs have been put in place at the base of the supports. We are putting the final settings onto the timers, everything is going according to plan."  
"Good to hear." A voice on the other end replied. "Get out of there as soon as you can. You don't want to get caught up in the blast, and by the way things have gone, we might be able to take out Eggman in the process."  
"All right team, get those timers set, then we're moving out. Is everyone still here?"

"Apart from Rouge." Fang stated.  
"Rouge?" Knuckles questioned. "You mean that strange woman in black?"  
"What is she doing?" Topaz demanded.  
"Beats me, but she went up there." He pointed up at the hole in the ceiling (the aftermath of the last mission here). Rouge had told him what she was doing, but he had been to busy staring at her chest to pay any attention.

The bat was in-fact searching for the Chaos Emerald she had seen in the room above the Main Engine Drive the last time she was here. To her disappointment, she only found charred metal and broken equipment.

She sighed. 'I guess it was too much to hope for...' She thought. 'I've come all this way for nothing.'  
"Rouge!" She heard Topaz's voice call out. "What are you doing up there?"  
"Oh, nothing!" She answered.  
"Then get down here, we're about to move out!"  
'You can go on ahead!' Rouge thought. 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for!'

"...Uh, I thought you said this room would be empty Scratch." She heard a voice say behind her. Whipping around, she found herself looking at Scratch and Grounder, the two robots she'd encountered before.  
"AH! It's an evil ninja!" The chicken stated. "There is no safety!"

* * *

"Those two crazy robots found some intruders!" Bocoe said, looking at the CCTV image of Scratch, Grounder and Rouge  
"How did they sneak in?" Decoe questioned. "Was it during the attack?"

The image changed to show the troops, Topaz and Knuckles in the Main Engine Drive room.  
"AH!" Both robots screamed. "It's Knuckles!"  
"Quick! Lock them in!" Decoe said, as they both pressed numerous buttons on the control panel.

* * *

The doorway behind Scratch and Grounder was suddenly closed off as a number of different security doors slammed down, blocking the path out of the room.

"...Oh my..." Rouge said under her breath.  
Scratch squawked in shock, running up to the door and beating on it with its fists. "You can't just lock us in here! Let us out!"

"What's going on up here?" Topaz demanded, climbing up the rope ladder into the room. "What did you do? The door down there just sealed shut!"  
"Damn it!" Fang said, climbing up, as Knuckles followed behind. "Security lock-down! Those doors are extra reinforced, and extra thick!"  
"Oh, is that all?" Rouge giggled. "Then allow me..."

The bat jumped up at the door, spinning around and striking it with a sharp kick. She did the same again, hitting another area, then another, then another.

She only stopped when she realised that in the time it would take for any normal door to be smashed to bits, she'd only just scratched the surface.  
"You weren't kidding!" Rouge said, taking a few steps back from it. "That's one tough barrier to get through!"  
"Let me handle it!" Knuckles said, leaping forward and driving a fist right into the door.

He was shocked to find that a punch that would have easily crushed any boulder had only left a tiny scratch.  
'My fists are no good?' he thought, looking at his hands, before laying a combination of punches into the door just to make sure.

"Okay Ma'am!" A young soldier said, climbing up the ladder. "The timer's activated! In less than ten minutes this place is going sky-high!"  
"WHAT?" Topaz cried out. "Shut it off! NOW!"  
"Bu...But... There's no deactivator! We weren't given one in the kit!"

Topaz fell to her knees, staring blankly into the ground. They were going to die. They were all going to die!  
"We're going to blow up?" Grounder figured out. Instantly, he powered over to the door and started drilling into it with all three of his drills.

Knuckles watched the robot, before pounding away at the door as well with his fists. He was soon joined by Rouge, who starting kicking away at the door.

Fang stood and watched, pulling a toothpick out and putting in his mouth. It was just his luck that he'd left his grenades in the Magnificent Queen back at home, and unlike the bat or the Echidna, he didn't have the strength to pound away like they could.

He looked at his watch. It was ten minutes and counting...

* * *

Running along the ground, Sonic charged as The Final Stage came towards him. He leapt up, using his Homing Attack to strike right into the front amour, only to ricochet right off it and land on the floor.

He quickly slid under the craft as it charged overhead, rolling and quickly standing up. The craft did a quick turn, charging again with its hands clasping together. The hedgehog had to cartwheel out of the way as the arms reached forward, trying to grab a hold of him.

'What's that thing running on?' Sonic thought to himself, running around the outside of the platform to build some momentum. Quickly, Sonic leapt again, curling into a ball and charging at the machine.

This time Eggman was ready, boosting E-01 upwards slightly and catching Sonic, still in a ball, in both of its hands. The rockets then powered upwards until there was barely a millimetre between the spikes on top of it and the ceiling.

The Final Stage then crashed downwards, slamming it's hands and Sonic into the floor, which sent the hedgehog sprawling across the platform into one of the support beams. He groaned in pain, clutching the back of his head as he lay on the ground.

Eggman roared with laughter.  
"You may have a steadfast heart of gold, but the rest of you isn't so tough!" He taunted.

Sonic got up to his knees, a serious look now on his face.  
"Laugh while you can Eggman!" The blue blur warned. "This party's just getting started!"

Sonic charged again, but this time faked off to the left, avoiding The Final Stage's arms. He then slammed hard into the outside of the machine's hand with a Homing Attack.

Almost as if E-01 was reacting in a reflex movement of pain caused by the attack, it swung itself around, sending Sonic crashing into the far wall.

Sonic coughed slightly, letting the dust from the wall he was press into fade away.  
"Not too bad Eggman... AHH!" The hedgehog called out in pain when E-01's outstretched palm slammed into him, crushing him against the wall like meat between to slices of bread.

The spiked roof of The Final Stage tilted up, allowing Eggman to stand up and lean over the top, looking at his trapped opponent.  
"Now do you understand who the master of this world is?" He mocked.  
"Just a lucky shot!" Sonic spat back, trying in vain to push the pressing hand away.

"You don't get it do you? This machine is being fuelled by Chaos Emerald energy! And it just so happens that there's TWO of them at work just now!"  
'Damn!' Sonic thought. 'No wonder this thing is so strong!'  
"You've run out of lives now Sonic, and there's no continues left! Just you..."

High-pitched laughing suddenly filled the air, as out of the hole in the roof came Bokkun, holding a TV monitor.

"Where have you been hiding?" Eggman demanded.  
"I kinda got scared by all the explosions..." The messenger smiled sheepishly. "But I got a message for ya! Here, watch!"

The screen then showed Decoe and Bocoe in the command room.  
"Lord Eggman!" Decoe said. "There are some very unfriendly looking people in the Main Engine Drive room!"  
"But we've got them trapped in there!" Bocoe added.  
"...Show me..." The Doctor said.

The screen then showed a close-up of Knuckles, and then of Topaz, Fang and the troops.  
"Interesting... But what could they be possibly doing in that room?"  
"Maybe it has something to do with the timed bombs they set up." Bocoe stated.  
"Oh, I see... THE TIMED BOMB?"

* * *

"How much time do we have left?" Fang asked, looking at Topaz.  
"About seven minutes left." She answered, glancing from her watch to the robot and two furries trying to break through the door.  
"At this rate we might get through the door, but getting out in time is another story..." The weasel pointed out, nervously twirling the toothpick in his mouth.

* * *

"Seven minutes? There's not enough time to deal with that!" Eggman decided. "I want all available robots to evacuate to the Off-Site Construction Base immediately! I'll be right along once I finish business here!"  
"Right away!" The two robots said, before the screen switched off.  
"I better pack up my bombs!" Bokkun said as it flew away.

"This won't matter once I destroy you!" Eggman said, sitting back down as the lid closed. "Admit defeat! Your attacks can't faze my armour, and you can't outrun my emerald-powered machine! Give it up!"

As the arm pulled itself back away from Sonic, priming itself for one final fatal attack, the hedgehog found a voice calling through his head.

"...Dude, they can pull musical instruments out of necklaces..." He heard Douglas say. "Instruments that can fire lasers... That's like, the awesomest thing ever."

"You're about to go from extreme, to extinct!" Eggman roared, sending the hand crashing towards the hedgehog to finally dispose of him.

The next sounds that filled the room was not that of a hedgehog's body being crushed against the wall and of an evil Doctor laughing in victory.

It was in fact the sound of a hard guitar solo and a laser blast ripping through metal.

Sonic breathed heavily, having summoned (for the first time in a very, very long time) his Sonic Underground guitar from the medallion around his neck, and managed to pull off the first solo he could think off.

It had worked, as the Final Stage hung in mid-air frozen, and the hand that would have meant the end of his life was only inches away from him.

Most importantly, there was now a large hole in the front armour where the blast from his guitar has struck.

"No!" Eggman screamed, desperately hammering at the controls. "NOOOOO!"

The hedgehog smiled, allowing the guitar to turn back into the medallion around his neck, and he jumped forward, running along the arm of E-01, before leaping inside the newly created hole.

Eggman looked in fear as in one moment the two Chaos Emeralds were in the panel, and the next, they were gone.  
He desperately hammered a button on his chair, causing the spiked lid to fly off and his modified Egg-Pod to hover just above the hole in ceiling, allowing him to look down.

In a flash of bright light, the Final Stage began violently shaking, as if something inside was bouncing off of all its insides.

"I... Hate... That..." Eggman sneered.

E-01 then exploded completely as Sonic, now covered in a golden glow, clutching a Chaos Emerald in both hands, tore out of it and straight through a wall.

"HEDGEHOG!" Eggman called out in despair, as the ceiling closed up, protecting him from the large fireball caused by the destruction of the Final Stage.

* * *

"Yo!" Douglas called out, pointing at the tower of Eggman's base as it seemed to explode in a thick cloud of black smoke. "Somethin's goin' down!"

As he said that, what seemed to be a glowing ball burst out of the tower, leaving a mass of smoke behind it, before it ripped into the tower and out of the other side.

* * *

"AH!" We're all gonna die!" Scratch said, cowering behind Grounder as the room around shook as if it was in a huge earthquake.  
"Are the bombs going off?" Rouge called out.  
"No!" Topaz answered. "We've still got about five minutes!"  
"Enough of this!" Knuckles said, pulling back his fist. "I'll get us out!"

Just as Knuckles was about to punch through the final layer of security, the left sides of the doors were suddenly slammed back into the wall.

The guardian blinked in surprise, but then his jaw hit the floor when a familiar rabbit popped her head around the side of the other door.

"Why, if it ain't big old red!" The rabbit said in a strong southern accent. "Fancy meetin' up with you in this strange Old World!"  
"Bunnie Rabbot?" The echidna said in shock.  
"The one and only!" She smiled. "Ya'll must'a been thinkin' the same as we were, headin' straight for the heart of the place to take it out!"

"Can we exchange greetings later?" Fang said, running past.  
"We've got four minutes before this place blows up!" Topaz also ran past "Let's move it!"  
"Blows up?" Bunnie questioned. "Suga', what have you gotten into this time?"  
"Miss Bunnie!" A French accent called out. "Now seems to be the time for the escapings!"

She rolled her eyes, grabbing Knuckles with her robotic arm and nearly ripping it out of the rest of his body as she pulled him after the group of Freedom Fighters and soldiers.

* * *

"It seems now that even more explosions are happening all over the tower..." Scarlet described the image being shown, as Chuck, Ella, Cream, Cheese, and Mr. Tanaka watched the news report on the TV screen.  
"But why this is happening is anyone's guess... Wait! Look there, at the base of the tower!"

The camera zoomed in onto the beach, and showed a group of humans and animals running away from the tower, and into the boat on the edge of the sand.

"We had speculated what this mysterious boat was doing on the shore... But there are some familiar faces there! I recognise the red Echidna and the weasel wearing a hat! They were at the final game at the Diamond stadium, fighting alongside Sonic!"

"It's Knuckles!" Ella said.  
"And that bounty hunter Fang." Tanaka added.  
"It seems our red friend has a secret taste for adventure!" Chuck joked.  
"The Freedom Fighters!" Cream cheered, pointing at the other animals on the screen. "They're here!"  
"The who?" Chuck questioned.

* * *

"Push it to the limit Rotor!" The ground-squirrel wearing a blue jacket and blue boots said as the boat, now full of soldiers, furries, and two robots, speeded through the waves away from Eggman Island.  
"No problem Sally!" The walrus wearing a yellow cap replied, pulling down a lever beside the steering wheel.

"Man..." Fang wiped the sweat away from his brow. "THAT was too close a call."  
"Of course, I never thought for a second that we were going to get blown up by those bombs!" Scratch lied unconvincingly.  
"Blown... BLOWN UP BY BOMBS?" A very worried French coyote exclaimed.  
"Antoine's still the same I see..." Knuckles noted.

All the attentions of the people on the boat were suddenly drawn to a very loud series of explosions at the base of Eggman's tower.

"Time's up." Topaz noted.

* * *

The crowd in Station Square watched in stunned silence as the tower of Eggman Island was blown apart by a final huge explosion, leaving only a pillar of smoke trailing up into the sky, and some burning remains on the ground.

"They did it!" Tome screamed, jumping on top of a parked car. "Eggman's history!"

Loud cheers echoed throughout the streets as the people celebrated the downfall of the evil Doctor, excitedly hugging one another and breaking out in loud chants for Sonic and Douglas.

* * *

"...Oh... My... GOD!" Douglas shouted, looking at the smoke rising from where Eggman's base had been.  
"SONIKKU!" Amy cried out over the radio.  
"Oh man, bro's done it this time!" Manic shook his head.  
"WAIT!" Tails said. "Look!"

Out of the smoke, Sonic burst out at high speed, grinning as he held the blue Chaos Emerald in one hand, and the yellow in the other.

"SONIC!" Was the united cry of victory from all the furries and the human in flight as the blue hedgehog easily landed on the front of the Tornado X, holding the emeralds high in the air.

It was over, it was all over, and it never felt better.

* * *

But what they didn't know, was that it was far from over.

Rather than the end, it was only the _End of the Beginning_.

Now, a _Whole New World_ was only just waiting.

After all, there are still five Chaos Emeralds out there to find...

* * *

S-O-N-I-C **GO!**

S-O-N-I-C **GO!**

GO-GO-GO-GO!

**LET'S GO!**

* * *

Next Episode Preview - Voice-Over by Douglas

I'm a hero! And so is Sonic! But it's not a happy occasion when we're invited to the President's Office. These new guys from Sonic's planet called the 'Freedom Fighters' are also there, and it seems things aren't exactly rosy between Sonic and this Sally person. Looks like there's a lot of back-story that needs explaining!

Next time one **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: Mobian History! Don't miss it!


	14. Mobian History

**Sonic **_e_**X**_cluded_

I do not own Sonic or other associated characters. I own Douglas, my fan character, so do not use.

* * *

Intro

"Eggman's base was completely destroyed!" The President's Aide said, smiling as he closed the newspaper. "Mr President, you'll surely win the next general election hands down! This is a great victory."

The President was unimpressed, staring blankly at the cup of coffee on his desk.

"Uh, I wouldn't be so sure..." Christina Cooper said, holding up another newspaper and pointing to the headline. "The heroes that took down Eggman were Sonic and Douglas..."  
"What?" He grabbed the newspaper, looking at the large picture of Sonic giving a thumbs up. "Sonic?"

He grabbed one of the newspapers a bodyguard was reading, looking shocked at the picture of Douglas on its front page. "Douglas?"  
He ran around the room, checking every national and international newspaper that had been brought in.  
"Sonic! Douglas! Sonic AND Douglas!" He exclaimed, tearing a paper in half. "Stupid journalists! What about the TV news?"

He grabbed a TV remote and pressed the on button, pointing at the TV in the room. The image of Sonic running down a road was shown.

"AH! Sonic!" He changed the channel, to find a video of Douglas wrestling being shown. "And Douglas!" He began flicking through the channels. "They're everywhere! On this one, and this one as well! They're here, and here, and here!"  
He dropped the remote, worriedly looking around him.  
"This is terrible! They're more popular than the government!" He said.

"Jerome, I think you're overreacting..." Christina said.  
"OVERREACTING?" He grabbed her by the shoulders. "What if Sonic gets elected president?"  
"...What nonsense did you just say?" The President looked up.

The doors into the room suddenly burst open, as a group of furries followed by Topaz, Mr. Stuart, Fang and Rouge entered.

"Do you know who I am?" The leader, a ground-squirrel in a blue jacket and blue boots asked, walking up to the desk and slamming her hands down on it.  
"...A very angry a ground squirrel in a blue jacket and blue boots?" The President replied.  
"You win an Internet!" Fang announced, pushing past the group and jumping up to sit on the desk. "Mr. President, may I introduce Princess Sally Acorn, leader of the Freedom Fighters of Knothole?"  
"...If it so pleases you..." The President sighed.

"THERE'S EVEN MORE OF THEM!" The President's Aide exclaimed, startling the coyote in the group. "Oh this is bad, this is bad!" He began pacing back and forth.  
"Is he all right?" Sally questioned, pointing to the worried human.  
"Not in the head sometimes..." The President mumbled under his breath.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Jerome announced. "A celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base!"  
"...A celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base?" His words were repeated by everyone else in the room.  
"Sonic and Douglas are openly invited to attend." He tapped a finger against his head. "But then it will be their honour to shake hands with the President himself!"

He could see it now, a mass of press photographers and cameramen all taking in the sight of the blue hedgehog hero known as Sonic shaking hands with the President.

"It will be the talking point for all the newspapers and all the news channels all over the world!" He smiled as if he'd thought of the best thing since sliced bread. "By associating Sonic and Douglas with our government, their popularity will transfer over to the President! Then even more people than before will give us their support!"

He then ran out the door, but ran back a few seconds later.

"That of course means an almost certainly overwhelming landslide majority in the next general elections, and a guaranteed next term of office as President! It's brilliant! I'll have invitations sent out to invite them to the celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base!"

He left the room again, leaving many confused faces behind him.

"...At some point..." The President mused. "I must have agreed to give him a job here..."

* * *

Episode 14 - Mobian History

* * *

Part 1

"...The hell?" Douglas questioned, looking at his reflection in the mirror. "It healed overnight this time?"

He'd taken off the bandages to check on the laceration that had been caused during the battle in the cornfield yesterday. To his shock, there wasn't any sign that it had ever been there. Not even a scar.

This rapid healing had happened a few times before, but never this quick. It kinda freaked him out...

"Douglas!" Ella called up the stairs. "There is a letter addressed to you and Sonic!"  
"Oh really?" He said, tossing the bandages into a trashcan. "I'll be down in a minute!"

* * *

"...A celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base..." Chuck read the letter. "Although it's addressed to you two, we're all invited to attend."

"Sweet!" Manic said. "Party time!"  
"Just a minute there!" Sonia said, grabbing her green brother by the arm. "Can we be sure that this isn't some sort of trap?"  
"Now Sonia..." Chuck said. "I can understand your caution, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Yeah, relax sis!" Sonic said, lying back in the sofa. "Besides, what's the worse that could happen at some fancy party?"  
"It's not likely to be a party, probably some fancy ballroom nonsense..." Douglas grumbled.  
"What do you mean Mister Douglas?" Cream asked.  
"Stuff like champagne, fine red wine, cuisine prepared by the finest chiefs from around the world..."

As Douglas continued to list a number of generic things associated with a formal gathering, he didn't notice the looks on the others in the room as they imagined each item he described.

"...You know, that kind of boring stuff." Douglas concluded  
"An occasion like this will require appropriate attire!." Mr. Tanaka stated. "I will get new suits and tailcoats prepared at once!" He quickly left the room.  
"Oh, how exciting!" Ella said. "I'm going to meet the President himself!"

"Come on Cream!" Amy said, excitedly taking the rabbit by the hand. "We must look out best!"  
"You mean we can wear pretty dresses?" Cream asked.  
"We'll get to wear the prettiest dresses ever made!"  
"What, you guys want to go this thing?"

"YES!" They all shouted, causing Douglas to fall over the back of the sofa.

"So, are you going?" Chuck asked the blue hedgehog.  
"Don't see why not." Sonic shrugged.  
"Douglas?"

"Well, I would, but..." The human said, standing up as he scratched his chin. "But I've got to check into rehab ya know, so..."  
"You're not injured!" Chuck stated.  
"No, for my drug addiction! I've got to flush all the corrupting weed out of my system!"  
"...You don't want to wear a suit, do you."

"...Yes. And the drugs."  
"You are NOT on drugs!"  
"Well I've been meaning to start, or something like that."

"Kids, drugs are bad." Knuckles popped up from behind a sofa. "Only stupid and uncool kids do drugs." He then disappeared.  
"...Was that some kind of legal requirement to keep lawsuits at bay?" Douglas questioned. "In that case: KIDS! Do crack, it's awesome!"  
"No it's not!" Knuckles appeared again. "Don't listen to him, he's bad for you!"  
"Ah screw it, I'll go to this celebration, whatever it is." Douglas gave up.

"A celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base." Chuck stated.  
"Yeah yeah, all right. Whatever..."

* * *

"I feel like a sardine in a tin..." Douglas said, cringing at the expensive suit he was wearing.  
"You're not the only one." Chuck added, equally uncomfortable.  
"Oh relax Doug." Sonic said, unfazed by the suit he was wearing. "This isn't too bad."  
"My street cred' is being assassinated wearing this..."

"The transportation has arrived." Tanaka announced, opening the front door.  
"Man, we get to travel in a limo!" Manic rushed past like an excited kid on Christmas morning.  
"Don't touch anything!" Sonia warned, unable to chase after him because of the high-heels she was wearing.  
"Limo? Why not take the Tornado X?" Sonic stated.

"We can't all fit in it." Knuckles answered. "Plus Ella would freak out if got these things dirty."  
"Right, I'm gonna go roll around in some mud then..." Douglas said, walking in the other direction.  
"Hey! This limo's got a mini-bar!" Manic shouted again.

"Out of my way!" Douglas ran out the front door, before running back in, throwing a vase across the room and running back out again.  
"All right! Party time!" Sonic said, punching a fist in the air then running out as well.  
"This cannot be good..." Knuckles sighed, shaking his head.

* * *

"Oh mah stars!" Bunnie Rabbot gushed, looking around the large ballroom set up for the celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base. "I ain't never seen anything as fancy as this!"  
"It is fantastic, no?" Antoine grinned smugly. "Not a royal banquet, but truly magnificent!"

The room was already filled with guests, waiters and staff. Despite the fact that this event was coming out of the blue, a great number of high-ranking public figures had cancelled appointments so they too could honour the great heroes of their country.

"I completely agree." Sally said. "It's finally good to see a sense of order in this strange world..." She glanced over to look at Fang, who seemed to be both confused and disgusted at some of the items of food on the table. "...Very strange world."

"...Let me get this straight..." Fang scratched his head. "They've put prawns, PRAWNS, into... A cocktail?"  
"It's a fantastic starter." Rouge said, teasing the weasel a little. "You should try it."  
"...Wait, what's a starter?"

"Excellent!" The President's Aide rubbed his hands together with glee. This is perfect! Now all we have to do is get Sonic to shake hands with the President, and have the world's media see it!"  
"The guests of honour are arriving!" A staff member called out.

* * *

The cameras from the paparazzi flashed as the limo pulled up in front of the Presidential building. Reporters were trying to push past each other, their microphones ready to catch some words from the heroes.

The door opened, and out stepped Mr. Tanaka - who was wearing a far more expensive uniform than he usually wore, but it looked exactly the same to his normal one.  
He helped Ella out, who was dressed in her finest blue dress.

Cream - in a pretty pink dress, Amy - in an overly sparkly red dress, and Sonia - in a regal purple dress, then followed.  
Next came Chuck, Tails, Manic and Knuckles all dressed in suits, and all looking slightly uncomfortable with the whole event.

But the press were still very patient upon seeing them, since they weren't the main attraction.

Which is why when the last two occupants of the limo stepped out, security had to quickly rush in to hold them all back.

Sonic had his trademark grin on his face as he waved for the more than excited reporters, unfazed by all the attention he was getting.  
After all, this wasn't the first time he'd saved the world or beaten Eggman. He didn't really get what all the fuss was all about.

Douglas on the other hand was loving every second of it. Playing to the photographers, he stood and held a fist in the air as a sign of victory.  
He was only a regular guy after all, so why not enjoy all this? He may never get a chance to do it again.

To him, this was completely and utterly awesome.

"Get them back!" Jerome ordered to the security guards, allowing a path through the crowd for the arriving guests. "Please, come this way!"

The cameras continued to flash as the group made their way towards the building, not knowing they were not in for an ordinary celebration hosted by the President himself to honour the heroes who bravely fought and destroyed Eggman's base.

* * *

'I'm still not sure that this a good idea...' The President thought, looking over at the official photographers for the event. 'This publicity stunt will probably backfire, like most of Wise's other ideas.'

The main doors into the hall were flung open, and the President's Aide stood in the doorway smiling.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" He announced. "Please welcome our very important and special guests, the heroes we are about to honour for bravely fighting and destroying the evil Eggman and his base, Sonic the Hedgehog and Douglas Thorndyke Smicktor!"

"SONIC!" Sally screamed, running past Jerome, knocking him over, and violently tackling the blue hedgehog as he walked through the door alongside Douglas.  
"...Yo Sonic, you're getting your ass kicked by a girl." Douglas helpfully pointed out as Sonic struggled against the ground squirrel who was attempting to strangle him.

"MON PRINCESS!" Antoine said in alarm, running over to help his fellow Freedom Fighters to pull Sally off of the hedgehog , while at the same time Sonic's friends were holding back Sonic from attacking her.  
"...Uh..." Douglas was clearly perplexed, as were the members of press who weren't sure if they should be reporting on this or not.

"SLIGHT CHANGE OF PLAN!" The President's Aide shouted, quickly pushing the press out into a side room. "We'll let you know when they're ready for the photographs thank you for your co-operation!"  
He quickly slammed the door shut, before glaring at the two groups of furries (and humans). "CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT?"

Jerome suddenly found a glass of wine being thrown over his face.

"Chill out." Douglas said, putting down the glass. "Jeez, you'd think this guy was a big shot around here." He added, pointing at Jerome.  
"Perhaps... Perhaps our guests need some time to settle in..." Christina Cooper said, trying to find something that would break the tension.

The President nodded. "I agree. Give them a couple of minutes, and we'll all assemble in my office." He said, before looking at Jerome. "You can stay and take care of the guests here and the press. This was your idea after all."

"Yes sir..." Jerome said through gritted teeth, watching The President walk away. "I'll take care of this all right..."

* * *

Five minutes later, and the President's room was so full of tension that it would be hard for even the sharpest knives to cut through.

The President sat at his desk, with Christina Cooper, Topaz, and his bodyguards beside him.

On the left side of the room were Ella, Mr. Tanaka, Chuck, Knuckles, Tails, Sonia, Manic, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Sonic and Douglas.

On the Right side of the room were the Freedom Fighters. He did not know who they all were, but there were quite a few of them, including the angry looking ground squirrel, a part-robotic rabbit, a royally dressed coyote, and a walrus wearing a yellow baseball cap.

Also in the room were Fang, Rouge, and Mr. Stuart.

"...Forgive me if my Aide was not entirely helpful..." The President said, noticing that Sonic and Sally were staring daggers into each other. "But I do express my deepest thanks for ridding us of that evil Eggman."

"Hey, it was no problem!" Douglas said, a little confused as he'd never seen Sonic like this before. "But Sonic and me can't take all the credit, can we? Sonic?"  
Sonic didn't respond, so Douglas punched him in the arm.  
"Ow!" Sonic glared at him. "What was that for?"  
"You weren't listening!"

"He never did." Sally stated flatly  
"Yo, who are you guys anyway?" Douglas looked over all the Freedom Fighters.  
"Yes, I was wondering about that..." The President caught everyone's attention. "I know of some of you, others I am just seeing for the first time..."  
"What the President means..." Christina quickly interjected. "If would all be so kind as to introduce yourselves, so that we all get to know each other. Just a brief background, so we can better understand you all."

Fang smirked. "What, you want a lesson in Mobian History?"  
"Oh man, I hate history!" Manic complained.  
"You hated learning!" Sonia stated. "You hardly did any."  
"Now let's all calm down..." Chuck said as he stood up. "Since we're all going to introduce ourselves, I'll start.

My name is Chuck Thorndyke, father of Nelson Thorndyke, the C.E.O. of the Starship Soft Computer Company. Retired professor, inventor, and occasional thrill-seeker."

Douglas laughed a little at the last item on the list.

"I live at the Thorndyke residence mainly to try and keep and eye on Douglas..." He shot a knowing look to the purple-haired human, who put his hands together and looked up to the roof, faking innocence. "And spend most of my time up in my lab if I'm not being interrupted."

"A pretty active life for someone your age if I may say so." Christina said. "Anyone else would have avoided this like the plague."  
"I couldn't not avoid it." Chuck smirked. "I literally walked into the living room to find Sonic and Douglas watching the TV news about 'the mysterious blue hedgehog'."

"Then he attacked Sonic with a screwdriver thinking he was a robot." Douglas added.  
"I see..." The President said, completely not understanding at all.

"I am Mr. Tanaka." The butler suddenly stepped into the middle of the room, just as Chuck was about to say something else. "I have served the Thorndyke family for many years as butler, chauffeur, and general..."

"Oh hello Mr. President!" Ella barged past him, knocking him over and excitedly shaking The President's hand. "Oh it's such an honour to meet someone like you!"  
"...And you are?" He asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer or not.  
"I'm Ella! I'm the maid for the Thorndykes, and believe me, they need one! Mr. Thorndyke is so untidy sometimes, and Mrs. Thorndyke isn't the greatest cook ever..."

"Thank you, thank you..." The President waved a hand as Mr. Tanaka had to practically drag Ella away. "Not that I mean any offence, but I would like to know more about Sonic and his friends..." He looked at the Freedom Fighters. "Or even non-friends it seems."

"What's there to know?" Sonic shrugged. "My name is Sonic the Hedgehog..."  
"Prince Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonia stated.  
"What?" Douglas questioned. "What's this about Princes?"

"This here..." Sonia tapped Sonic on the head, who had suddenly become very uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Is Prince Olgilvie Maurice the Hedgehog, the next in the line to the throne of the Royal Family of Hedgehogs."

"...A Prince?" The President, like all the other humans in the room, were gob smacked.  
"Oh yeah, blue bro here's supposed to be wearing a crown on his noggin!" Manic stated, tapping a drumstick on Sonic's head.  
"Dude!" Douglas exclaimed. "You're a prince?"  
"We all are." Sonia pointed to herself and to Manic. "All part of the Royal Family."

"See? Not even people on other planets can believe it." Sally stated.  
"Hmph, perhaps it would be better to explain the war first of all..." Knuckles stated, his arms folded as he leaned against the wall.  
"The war?" The President asked.  
"The Great Mobian War of Independence." Sally stated, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small computer.

She opened it up, pushed a button, and put it down on the table in front of her.

"Nicole, bring up the files on The Great Mobian War of Independence."  
"Processing..." The voice of the computer said. "Files accessed. Shall I play them?"  
"Yes."

* * *

The planet Mobius was once a very peaceful place, where everyone lived in peace and harmony.

In that time, there were many different countries and regions, known as Zones. Either the Royal Family of Hedgehogs, or the Royal Family of Acorn ruled over these Zones either. The castles of their families both resided in South Island.

These two families were dedicated over generations to their own people, not to increasing land or stature. They lived peacefully, often helping each other in times of need.

But a tragedy happened.

One day, a bright light was seen by guards outside of Mobotropolis, the capital and home of the Royal Family of Acorn. Upon investigating it, they found 2 strange men, both dazed and confused, at the side of a river. They were unlike anyone on Mobius, as they were not animals. They were both human, or as some called them - Overlanders.

The first man was rather short, almost similar in height to many average Mobians, and went by the name of Colin Robotnik. He was the nephew of the second man, who was far taller and fatter, and went by the name of Julian Robotnik.

It was quite obvious they were from another world, and seemingly they had spent some time in the legendary, and strange, Special Stage. The effect of the time spent there was devastating to their bodies. Colin lost his hair, and he had shrunk height wise. Julian was even worse, almost losing his sight, and found that his limbs were vastly weakened.

The King of the Acorn Family allowed the two men to stay in Mobotropolis after discovering that not only did they both have a passion for technology, but they were in awe of what they called 'far-superior' technology that Mobius had.

The King was further impressed when the Robotniks were able to replace Julian's weakened body parts with robotic arms, legs, and 'sensor' like eyes. Perhaps they could use this technology to help those in need. They agreed, in return for being allowed additional time on their own to create a gateway that would allow them to return to their own world.

But that was not their only motive.

The time spent in the Special Stage had effected their minds, and over time they began to resent their hosts, blaming them for what had happened to their bodies. Julian decided that he was far superior to anyone else on the planet, and that a change was needed.

King Acorn believed that the Robotniks were only creating a gateway in their private lab just a few miles away from Mobotropolis. That was not true.

On that tragic day, the day now known as 'The Fall of Mobotropolis', a giant airship simply called 'The Destroyer' launched from the lab, launching an attack on the Acorn castle. Robotnik, with a robotic army of SWATbots, seized control of the city in a swift and brutal attack that completely levelled the whole city.

During the chaos, the Royal Family escaped. It is believed that King Acorn and his closest advisors took refuse in the Special Stage, a place where Robotnik would not venture.

Robotnik hated the Special Stage so much he referred to it as 'The Void'.

But some of the youngest members of the family, King Acorn's daughter, son, and some of the nannies and carers escaped deep into the Great Forest, an area so dense that no radar could read any signs of life in it.

In that Forest, those who had escaped built a village known as Knothole, and vowed to one day avenge what had happened on that day.

They called themselves The Freedom Fighters.

Doctor Julian Robotnik constructed a new city over the ruins of Mobotropolis. A vast city of factories, warehouses, smog and pollution. He named it Robotropolis.

But he was not done. Leaving Colin, who he now called Snively, to see to business in Robotropolis, he took the Destroyer to the Castle of the Family of Hedgehogs, only to find it deserted. News had spread, and the family had already fled the castle.

Robotnik crushed the castle, then declaring himself supreme ruler and King of all of Mobius, and naming Robotropolis as the planet's capital.

There were many rebellions against Robotnik in the weeks just after his seizing control, lead mostly by Sir Charles 'Chuck' Hedgehog of the Royal Family of Hedgehogs.

But he was captured, and became the first victim to Robotnik's cruellest weapon.

The Roboticizer.

It completely transformed its victim from living breathing flesh and bones, into cold mindless machinery. Showcasing the Roboticized Chuck to the world, the rebellions stopped in a heartbeat, and remained like that for many years.

* * *

"...My goodness." The President said. "Robotnik."

"Not to be confused with Eggman." Fang said, walking over and kneeling down to look at the hologram of Robotropolis Nicole was projecting. "Julian Robotnik is Eggman's father, believe it or not."  
"That's right." Sally said, leaning back into the sofa. "Eggman, aka Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Compared to the Robotnik that was dictator of Mobius, Eggman is somewhat of a joke."

"How many years ago was this?" Douglas asked.  
"It only ended about two years ago..." Sally said. "It feels much longer. The war lasted for about 10 years, were all just children when it first started."  
"So we spent our teenage years fighting a war just so we could have a future." A black cat in a Green Beret said.

"Ouch." Douglas stated. "So you were all in this village?"  
"Not all of us." The walrus in the yellow cap said. "There were a few of us to start with, but as Robotnik captured more and more families, the survivors found their way to Knothole."  
"Call it a mutual bond of suffering." Sally said.

"The floor's yours." Douglas offered, making a motion with his arm. "Let's hear your stories."

"Princess Sally Alicia Acorn." Sally stood up. "Now next in line to the throne of the Royal Family of Acorn. I was aided to safety, along with my brother Elias, Antoine and all the rest of us during The Fall by some of the few remaining royal followers. I pretty much stayed in Knothole until I learned the skills necessary to fight against Robotnik, then I took my place as leader of the Freedom Fighters."

From the way Sally spoke, it was obvious royal duty meant a great deal to her, which is respectable since she is a Princess by birth. But the way she and Sonic were interacting and looking at each other made it a little hard to openly accept her. For Sonic to be like this must have meant something pretty serious between the two of them.

"Not exactly Princess material..." Rouge stated, looking over the ground squirrel.  
"I couldn't exactly carry out any royal duties without a kingdom." Was her reply. "Fighting Robotnik was the only way undo his terrible deeds."  
"You mentioned your brother..." Christina started to say.

"King Elias Acorn." Antoine stood up, proudly saluting. "Since the King has not returned from le Special Stage, he has assumed his rightful duties as King Acorn."

"He escaped along with me." Sally began again, as Antoine sat down again, not noticing the strange looks he was getting (or perhaps ignoring them). "Although quite a fighter, he never really seemed to grasp the leadership needed for this kind of fighting, so he let me take control. I had no problems in letting him take the crown..." She looked at Sonic. "Although I was offered a chance to become Queen..."

"I see. Antoine, is it?" The President looked at the coyote.  
"Ah, oui monsieur?" Antoine stood up. "Antoine D'Coolette, loyal member of ze Royal Guard of ze Royal Family of Acorn."  
'There is no hope.' The President thought. 'The French exist on other planets as well.'  
"My duty is to protect ze Royal Family at any cost to life and limb!"

The Freedom Fighters, and Sonic's friends, were either shaking their heads or rolling their eyes at Antoine. It was obvious what they thought of him, and what to expect of him. And it didn't seem highly for either.

Sonic laughed at that comment.

"Excusing me, what is the laughing for?" Antoine demanded.  
"You forgot the part about being a serial coward." The blue hedgehog said.  
"And the ego." Manic added.

"Don't forget about how clumsy he can be." The walrus pointed out.  
"Rotor! Who's side are you being on?" The traitor on his side shocked the coyote.  
"It's the truth!" Rotor shrugged his shoulders.  
"He means well..." Sally sighed, easing the clearly peeved coyote back to sit down. "Most of the time."

"Well, since I seem to have caught the ball..." Rotor smiled as he stood up, adjusting his cap. "I'm Rotor, but my friends call me Boomer. Long story, not really interesting. I lived in the city and got taken to Knothole during The Fall. I guess I've known these guys..." He motioned to the freedom fighters on the sofa and behind it. "Since I was a kid, or since being in Knothole, or maybe even both!"

As soon as Rotor stood up, smiles (even just small ones) appeared on most of the furries' faces. Rotor had the kind of carefree, easygoing attitude that you couldn't hate. He didn't have any grudges or problems with anyone, and was always willing to give an open ear to any problems or just a shoulder to cry on. Many considered him to be an unsung hero, as he preferred working in the background rather than in the limelight.

"Rotor was in charge of creating tools and machines to use in the war." Sally said. "If he wasn't making something, he was fixing something."  
"I just liked it as a hobby before The Fall..." Rotor shrugged. "I was happy it could be useful."  
"A passion for inventing, eh?" Chuck rubbed his chin.  
"Yeah, you could say that." He smiled again, before sitting down.

"Well, mah story is a lil' different, as you can tell..." Bunnie Rabbot tapped her metal arm with her real arm. "I didn't know any of these guys until after The Fall. Robotnik came through our town and wrecked everythang. I was darn scared I didn't know what to do, then I wound up in Knothole and met old Sally-girl here."

Bunnie was always known for two things: Her tremendous strength (both physical and inner), and her Southern drawl. It was quite a while before she came to Knothole, and soon became an inseparable part of the Freedom Fighters, as well as best friend to Sally.

"And before you start wonderin', these old things..." Bunnie motioned to her robotic legs and arm. "Were Robotnik's handy work."  
"Whoa, what?" Douglas was taken aback.  
"The Roboticizer." Rotor stated.  
"I was lucky Suga-Hog saved me before that darn machine turned me into Robo-Rabbot." Bunnie added.

"That's pretty messed up." Douglas stated. "I mean, I thought it looked cool that you got those, but not if they were forced on you."  
"Aww, that's sweet of you honey!" Bunnie almost blushed. "I must say, you are the nicest overlander I've ever met!"  
"You guys are the ONLY others we've met!" Rotor stated.

"That's quite interesting then..." Chuck said thoughtfully. "If that Robotnik was a human, an overlander as you say, then how did he get from our world to yours?"  
"You think Robotnik was from here?" Topaz questioned.  
"It's just a thought, as crazy as it may sound, but I don't know of where else humans might come from."

"No, you're right." The President agreed. "That does sound interesting. For some reason, I'm sure I've heard the name Robotnik before..."

"Excuse me for asking..." Christina said. "But what happened to you Sonic, and your family?"  
"Do you wanna tell the story Sis?" Sonic looked over to Sonia.  
"Gladly..."

* * *

The news came of The Fall of Mobotropolis, and sent the House of Hedgehog into a panic. It would not be long before they were the next targets. Taking advice for her most trusted advisor, known as The Oracle of Delphius, Queen Aleena Hedgehog - head of the Royal Family of Acorn - fled the castle with her 3 children.

She put each of the children into the care of three very different types of people, praying that one-day they would meet each other and bring peace once more to Mobius.

She also left each child with a special medallion, full of legendary magic that only those born from the Family Hedgehog could use.

The first child, the only daughter, Sonia. She was left in the care of an aristocratic family, and developed refined intelligence, calm, and sophisticated ways. She also became expert at the piano.

The second child, Manic. Raised by a street gang of thieves, he himself became a master thief. His skills allowed him to easily slip in and out of buildings, spot and use hiding places, and fight.

The third child, Sonic. It didn't matter that the family he was raised by were simple farmers, his skills were already apparent. His speed, athletic ability and adventurous attitude could not be tamed.

It was clear then that Sonic could not be held back, and so when he was told the truth that the farmers were not his real parents, he set off on a quest to find them.

The would all meet up in the city of Mobodoon. Sonic, just walking down the street, spied a pickpocket attempting to steal from a fancy looking lady. Rushing up to stop him, the three hedgehogs locked eyes with each other, and for the first time the medallions around their necks glowed as their power was finally unlocked.

Tragically, Robotnik's forces invaded the city due to failure to pay a triple tax increase, and the three were forced to flee to an underground home Manic set up when the gang that raised him were captured.

All through the night, the three children bonded with each other, sharing stories about what they'd learned and what they should become. They also experienced for the first time the power of their medallions.

Sonic was given the power of a guitar, which from one mighty rift could produce an energy blast capable of tearing through the hardest of armour.

Sonia was given the power of a keyboard, a combination of keys could produces laser blasts to pick off targets even at a distance.

Manic was given the power of drums, which could create miniature earthquakes and rifts in the ground.

Together they decided to travel under the disguise of an rock group trying to make it big, in hopes of actually finding their real parents.

On that day, the Sonic Underground was born.

* * *

"At least, it started off that way." Manic added. "We were just three kids looking for our mom, playing some kick-ass music on the side. We didn't really know much about the war with the Freedom Fighters and that until we checked out Robotropolis."

"You were oblivious to a war?" The President asked.  
"We were so focused on finding our mother that we pretty much ignored everything else that was going on."  
"That was..." Sonic said, looking directly at Bunnie. "Until we saw first hand what Robotnik was up to..."

* * *

"Uh, Manic?" Sonic had a confused look on his face as he pushed the manhole cover away and climbed out of the hole. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"The map says so!" Manic said, also climbing out of the hole, pointing to the map he was holding.  
"...Manic, you're holding it upside down." Sonic sighed, looking on the map.  
"Are you serious?" Sonia climbed out, and grabbed the green hedgehog by his jacket. "Manic! We could be anywhere now!"  
"Shh!" Sonic said, grabbing his siblings and pulling them into a dark corner. "I hear somethin' coming."

Moments later, a patrol of four SWATbots walked by, not noticing the hedgehogs.

"SWATbots." Sonia whispered. "I've heard about them. They're Robotnik's means of keeping law and order, and they're not too friendly either."  
"Hey, what's this?" Manic said, wiping some dust off a crate beside then. "Look at this: 'Blaster Parts; Destination: Roboticizer Centre 4'."  
"Roboticizer? What's that?" Sonic questioned.

"Beats me Bro." The green hedgehog shrugged.  
"Well, I don't think there's going to be much of interest around here..." Sonia started to say, before a scream caused all three hedgehog to look around them.

"HELP!" The strong southern accent called out. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"Someone's in trouble!" Sonic said, preparing to run off.  
"Big deal!" Manic grabbed his brother's arm. "We've got our own problems!"  
"Manic's got a point, we don't want to get blacklisted by Robotnik..." Sonia said.

"PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!" The voice called again.  
"Sorry guys..." Sonic pushed the green hedgehog away. "It's juice and jam time!"

Before the others could protest anymore, Sonic took off quickly down the corridor, following the screams for help.

* * *

Flip Card 1 - Sally

Full Real Name: Princess Sally Alicia Acorn  
Nickname(s): Sally-girl, Sal  
Gender: Female  
Age: 15  
Likes: Honour, tradition, family and friends  
Dislikes: Robotniks, breaking of tradition  
Identifying features: A brown ground-squirrel, with reddish hair of medium length. Wears a blue jacket and blue boots, often carries a small computer called Nicole

* * *

Flip Card 2 - Antoine

Full Real Name: Antoine D'Coolette  
Nickname(s): Ant  
Gender: Male  
Age: 15  
Likes: Tradition, Royal duties, fine cuisine and cooking  
Dislikes: Danger, violence, anything even potentially painful, the misuse of margarine and butter  
Identifying features: Coyote who dresses in royal attire, carries a sword. Has a strong French accent, and a slightly over-combed haircut.

* * *

Part 2

"So..." Robotnik sneered, rubbing his metallic hands together. "This pathetic little creature is one of these bothersome 'Freedom Fighters'?"

"It seems so Sir." Snively said, pressing some buttons on the control panel in front of him.  
"For the damage these Freedom Fighters have done to my factories and operations, I was expecting something far more... Impressive."

Robotnik was clearly not thinking highly of the frightened rabbit in a purple leotard and pants, being held up by her arms by two SWATbots.

"She was captured outside sector 08/26-1991 JPN." Snively said, checking a panel reading. "It seems the Freedom Fighters were having fun with explosives and the communications tower."

Robotnik frowned, looking down at the rabbit. "How annoying, that will take some time to repair... But since she is with the Freedom Fighters, she must be made an example of. Prepare the Roboticizer." He said, waving a hand and walking away.  
"No! NO!" Bunnie screamed as the two machines began taking her towards the large Roboticizer machine.  
"She may have some useful information." Robotnik added, his red sensor eyes glowing a little as he entered the lift. "If not, just assign her like the others."  
"Of course Sir." Snively said, watching the doors close. "My royal fatness." He added under his breath.

As much as he hated taking orders from his own uncle, he hated the Freedom Fighters more. At least for the time being. Besides, it would only be a matter of time before he took control for himself.

"Scream all you want rabbit." Snively said, tapping a few buttons as the two SWATbots forced Bunnie into the chamber of the Roboticizer. "Your friends aren't going to save you now."

The chamber sealed shut, and the machine began humming into life. Bunnie began hammering onto the glass with her fists, screaming out for help. But the thick glass muted her cries.  
"A sad sight indeed." Snively said, pulling the main switch.

Electricity flashed inside the chamber, the Roboticization process beginning. Snively shook his head again, a part of him wondered when it would all end.

A loud rock guitar rift made him look up, and he saw an energy blast crash into the Roboticizer chamber.

"What?" He questioned, before a blue blur suddenly rushed past, into the smoke where the chamber was, and then back out again.  
"...This is not good."

* * *

"This is not good." Sonia said, sitting next to Manic in the Sonic Underground van. "Who knows what Sonic's up to..."  
"Maybe Sis, but blue bro can take care of himself..."

The door of the van suddenly opened and closed. The two hedgehogs turned around to see Sonic standing, holding a rabbit with metallic legs and one metallic arm, who was crying into his shoulder with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Oh my gosh!" Sonia gasped. "What on Mobius happened?"  
"Ro... Robotnik..." Bunnie said in between sobs.

* * *

"That's when we first hooked our groups together." Manic said.  
"We took Bunnie to her home in Knothole, and having seen what Robotnik had been doing..." Sonia started to explain.  
"There was no way I was letting him get away with it." Sonic spoke up.  
"It wasn't all bad..." Bunnie sighed. "Ah used the strength of these things against them SWATbots."

"And rip open the odd door or ten." Rotor added.  
"So you guys all teamed up to take on Robotnik?" Douglas asked.  
"Pretty much anyone who wound up in Knothole joined the Freedom Fighters." Rotor said. "Everyone had a skill to lend in the fight against him."

"Not everyone." Tails mumbled under his breath.  
"Not everyone." Amy said, not picking up what the kitsune had said. "I was only little when I arrived in Knothole..."  
"How can we forget!" Rotor smiled. "Back then you were a little girl in an orange skirt and green top with a loud voice!"

Amy blushed, clearly embarrassed.  
"The only change is her dress sense then." Chuck joked.  
"HEY!" Amy exclaimed.  
"Yes..." Sally sighed. "Amy was far too young and inexperienced to go out as a Freedom Fighter."

"How about you Tails?" Chuck asked. "How did you end up in this war business?"  
"I was saved by Sonic!" Tails said. "Literally. I was running from a group of SWATbots when I ended up stuck in quicksand. I was lucky that Sonic was around to pull me out!"  
"When I saw his twin tails, I thought he had a brother stuck in the pit as well!" Sonic smiled as he remembered. "Ever since then, we've been best buds!"

"Now that is certainly one heck of a story..." The President said.  
"You don't know the half of it." Fang said, catching everyone's attention.

"When the Underground joined forces with the Freedom Fighters, Robotnik's dominance in the war started falling." He continued. "Sonic and Sally led the charge against the overlanders, hitting SWATbot factories, prisons, all that kinds of stuff. With every attack that went by, Robotnik lost more and more of his mind. He started destroying his own robots who'd failed him, even started hirin' bounty hunters to try and take out the Freedom Fighters.

He needed someone to get him the Chaos Emeralds, and I just happened to fit the bill."

"You betrayed your own people for money?" Christina was shocked.  
"Money, guaranteed safety, not having to live in back alleys... Was a pretty good deal. Robotnik even let me have ownership of the Oil Ocean factory."  
"Oil Ocean?" The president asked.  
"Robotnik was obsessed, and I mean seriously obsessed with pollution. Had some kind love for destroying landscape and plants and stuff with smog, oil, anything damaging. Set up a whole Chemical Plant dedicated to pollution."

"Forgive me for asking, but..." The President said. "Knuckles, how did..."  
"My story?" The Guardian said.

"Alright. From as far back as I could remember, I was all alone on the Floating Island, with only the ancient stone tablets to give me hints to my past and my purpose. From what they said, I was the last surviving Echidna of my tribe, and therefore the Guardian of the Floating Island and the Master Emerald.

The Floating Island is both a mystery and a wonder in itself. I can't even tell you how, what or why it's like it is, all I know is that if the Master Emerald should leave the island, then the whole world is in grave danger. I wouldn't want to take a risk the tablets being false.

I got dragged into the war when Robotnik caught wind that the Island, specifically the alter that houses the Master Emerald, was once the resting place of all seven Chaos Emeralds."

"So he went up after them, and we all had to try and stop him." Sally stated.  
"And true to form, Knucklehead got duped into helping Robotnik." Sonic said.  
"...It was my first contact with the outside world." Knuckles grumbled. "I was young too..."  
"You've always been gullible!" Sonic stated.  
"Oh, and you're just the perfect hero as well." The echidna replied.

"Anyway..." Sally said. "Robotnik's trick worked, and he got a hold of the remaining Chaos Emeralds. That left only one option left - we had to attack before he could activate The Doomsday Project."

* * *

The Doomsday Project was to be Robotnik's most sinister and deadly creation. He wanted something capable of completely Roboticizing not only large numbers of Mobians at one time, but also turning landscape into large industrial areas at the same time.

To achieve something of this magnitude, Robotnik would not only need to build a machine large enough to do such a task, but he would need vast source of energy to power it.

As fate would have it, a Chaos Emerald mysteriously found it's way into the hands of Robotnik. So a race began to collect all seven of the Chaos Emeralds before the other side did.

Despite their efforts, Robotnik won.

Arrogantly, Robotnik claimed that even though the Doomsday Project was not yet fully built, he had all the power he needed to defeat the Freedom Fighters.

His words would be put to the test when the Freedom Fighters mounted an all out assault against Robotropolis and Robotnik. They had no idea if Robotnik's words were to true or not, or how near to completion the Doomsday Project was if he was telling the truth. They had no choice but to act now before it was too late.

* * *

"All or nothing huh?" Douglas guessed.  
"Exactly." Rotor answered. "It was crazy. There were so many explosions, robots, fighting going on, I almost lost track on what the plan was!"  
"Ze greatest battle that has even been fought!" Antoine said.

"But you won, right?" Douglas asked again. "I mean, 'cuz you're all here..."  
"Of course we won!" Manic said. "Kinda obvious I guess, but..."  
"What exactly happened?" The President asked.

"That's the strange thing..." Sally said, adjusting her jacket. "Not even in our wildest dreams could we have guessed what was going to happen..."  
"You know that feeling you get when everything seems to be going a little to well?" Rotor said. "Like, it's all a bit too easy?"  
"The one where you start to think that you're walking into a trap?" Topaz guessed.

"That's the one. Only, the trap wasn't for us, it was for Robotnik!"  
"What do you mean?" The President asked.  
"Turns out Snively didn't exactly live up to his nickname after all." Sonia said. "Especially when we saw him blast a laser."  
"It was so suddenly, so unexpected..." Sally said. "Just when it looked like we could actually lose, Snively just turned on him!"

"The weirdest thing was, he didn't even explain himself." Manic added. "The guy just turned, got in a fancy pod thing, and disappeared into the sky!"  
"He was nice enough to start a self-destruct countdown for us though." Sonic said with a smirk. "Still a Robotnik after all."  
"And I thought my life was messed up..." Douglas mumbled under his breath.

"Mr. President!" The President's Aide burst into the room, knocking over Mr. Stuart in the process. "The guests and the press are getting impatient!"  
"Impatient? You haven't seen Sonic when Nicole's processing data." Rotor laughed.  
"I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiting!" Fang said, tapping his foot in an exaggerated manner.

"What? How hard is it to bring up a map, or some old files about coded messages?" The blue hedgehog tried to defend himself.  
"I've come to a conclusion!" Douglas stood up.  
"What?" Chuck asked.

"This is the second worst party I've ever been to. No beer, no music, I mean, seriously? What's going on here?"  
"Second worst?" Rouge questioned. "How can this be any worse?"  
"You never seen a toilet explode have you?"

"What about the photos?" The President's Aide was getting very worried.  
"THERE ARE NO PHOTOS!" Rouge, Bunnie, Topaz and Mr. Stuart said in unison.

A very uncomfortable silence followed.

"...What the hell are you doing here anyway?" Douglas pointed at Mr. Stuart.  
"UH, I, uh... The Government wanted to know about you! And since I'm your boss and everything, you know!" he quickly spat out an excuse.

"Miss Cooper, have we covered everything?" The President asked/  
"Everything apart from the two robots and Dr. Eggman himself." Christina stated.  
"Oh, you mean Scratch and Grounder?" Rotor smiled. "Trust me, I wouldn't worry about them too much."

* * *

The now abandoned Eggman Island lies silent, with only the ruins of Eggman's tower base serving as the reminder of the battle that had taken place hours ago.

That, and the two robots that were trying to pour the water out of various parts of their bodies.

"Quit complaining!" Scratch said, ringing the last drops of water from its tail feathers. "We got back here didn't we?"  
"But did I really need to carry you all the way underwater?" Grounder said, reattaching his head to his body. "We could have found another boat..."  
"It wasn't my fault that the boat was cursed! Besides, we have a huge problem..."  
"Oh yeah..."

Both robots looked at the ruins of Eggman tower.

"This is bad, this is real real bad..." Grounder sighed.  
"Yeah! This is going take hours to clean up!"  
"I know, the Doctor's going to be super mad at us!"

* * *

"Initial reports did state that a toaster passing five safety tests in a row posed more of a threat than the two machines." Christina said.  
"I don't recall permitting those robots to be released." The President seemed annoyed.  
"THE PHOTOS!" Jerome screamed, almost in desperation.

Douglas stood up and threw a glass of water into his face, soaking him.  
"Get lost." Douglas said. "And don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

"Well, it certainly seems we are all a little more acquainted than before hand." Chuck said. "Although I'm not quite sure what we accomplished today."  
"Well it's clear that Chaos Control transported more people into this world." Knuckles stated.  
"More then just that Red!" Bunnie said. "The whole Great Forest got shipped over here!"

"SAY WHAT?" Sonic and his friends said in shock.  
"What!" Fang said smugly, trying to be funny, but only got smacked on the back on his head by Rouge.  
"Well, quite a bit more than that." Christina stated. "I'll just bring up the map..."

The large TV screen on the wall showed an image of a large island with different terrains on it.

"South Island!" Sonic exclaimed, almost jumping out of his shoes.  
"The whole of South Island." Sally stated. "Quite incredible, but we guessed it had something to do with the remains of Eggman's base we found."  
"Man, it is all there..." Fang remarked. "Robotnik's old Chemical Plant, the Hill Top volcanoes, the Mystic Caves..." He grinned. "And my Oil Ocean. Fantastic."

"An Oil Ocean?" The President questioned.  
"It's a long story, but I own all that oil, and all the oil that place produces. Useless stuff on Mobius though, all it does is pollutes."

"Incredible..." Chuck remarked. "A portion of another world, right in ours!"  
"I knew Chaos Control was powerful, but to actually move a whole island..." Knuckles was clearly disturbed by the fact.  
"Ya'all think you were freaked?" Bunnie laughed. "We spent a few weeks tryin' to get everyone back together!"

"That happened to you guys to?" Tails asked. "We got split up as well after the Chaos Control."  
"Oh yeah." Rotor said. "I wound up on the beaches by Emerald Hill, and Sally had to trek back from the south side of the Mystic Caves."  
"Must have been terrible for Ant." Sonic smirked.

"Ah was ze luckiest. Ah 'ad to hold up ze fort." Antoine said.  
"What?" Douglas was confused by the bad use of words.  
"He was the only one still left in Knothole." Sally explained. "Found him hiding in his bed when we eventually got back."

"Chuck..." Tails whispered.  
"Hmm?"  
"I think I know why we can't find any of the Chaos Emeralds around here."  
"You think that they might be in South Island?" He whispered back.

The kitsune nodded in reply.

"Tails hun', what 'cha whisperin' about there?" Bunnie said.  
"Nothing Aunt Bunnie!" Tails said out of reflex, before cringing in embarrassment.  
"The hell Tails?" Douglas said. "No offence to you guys, but your planet is seriously screwed up if a fox is related to a rabbit!"

"Excuse me?" Sally was clearly offended, a look of annoyance on her as she stood up. "I happened to be Tails' Aunt Sally, for your information."  
"Hey 'Aunt Sally', Tails ain't a kid if you haven't noticed." The human crossed his arms. "You watch this guy rebuild a 'plane into a transforming jet fighter, and you'll know he don't need anyone to hold his hand through a park."

"You rebuilt the Tornado?" Rotor said.  
"Oh man, you should see it!" Manic said, jumping up onto the back of the sofa. "It's flying with style by the mile!"  
"I might have known you'd be a bad influence." Sally rolled her eyes at Sonic.

"Say that again?" He challenged, standing up with a look of anger on his face.  
"Easy Sonic!" Sonia tried to calm him, patting his shoulder to relax him back into his seat.  
"Please, everyone." Christina said. "This isn't the time, nor the place for any kind of violence."

"Violence?" Antoine started looking frantically around him as if his life was in danger. "What is this about violence?"  
"Hold on people!" Rotor said, standing up and putting his arms between Sally and Sonic. "The lady's right. You're setting a bad example in front of their leader."

"On the contrary." The president said, surprising everyone. "I find it quite refreshing to know that our cultures are actually quite similar. Personal problems, warfare, different walks of life... Makes us all seem quite normal in such abnormal circumstances.

I'm not sure if it was explained fully, but I would like to openly extend an invitation to you all, including to our new guests, for recognition to your hard work and success in the destruction of Eggman's base.

As President of this country, I hereby grant to Sonic, his family, and his friends, and also to the Freedom Fighters, the freedom of the whole country."

"Whoa!" Douglas was gob smacked.  
"Are you sure Mr. President?" Chuck asked.  
"Without a doubt." He said. "You all deserve it."

"But why do we need the freedom?" Manic shrugged. "We've already got our homes in South Island."  
"Good point Suga'." Bunnie said. "The Acorn palace, the Hedgehog palace, an' good old Knothole Village is all there."  
"NOT THAT we're ungrateful Mr. President!" Chuck quickly intervened. "It's truly an honour, but what we mean is that they'd first like to go to South Island to get rid off the home sickness they're having!"

"Now that sounds like a great idea!" Amy said. "There's no place like home after all!"  
"Oh well, I suppose that IS an option..." Sonic said, waving his hand dramatically.  
"It'll be just like old times!" Rotor said. "Everything's practically the same."  
"Just the same..." Sally said sarcastically under her breath.

"Then it's settled." Chuck said with a smile. "We'll all pay a visit to South Island!"  
"Sounds cool to me!" Douglas said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

"There has to be a better way than this!" Scratch said, trying in vain to lift a heavy section of metal off the sand.  
"I can't think of anything else." Scratch said, brushing away the sand in front of him with a feather duster attachment from his arm. "Huh?"

The robot noticed a glint in the sand from the setting sun. Brushing away the area more, he revealed what looked to be like a metal floor.

"Scratch! I've found something!"  
"What?" The chicken stormed over, clearly annoyed. "This better be importaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

As soon as both machines were on it, the floor opened up, sending both of them falling into the darkness below, before the floor sealed shut again.

Moments later, the sand around it mysteriously moved over it, hiding it again, and leaving the island disserted.

* * *

Next Episode Preview - Voice-Over by Douglas

"Damn, a Whole New World to explore! A guided tour of Mobotropolis, the royal palace of Acorn, Hedgehog, and finally Knothole Village! But we learn much more than just the places we visit. Turns out there's some dark secrets that both sides are trying to hide...

Next time one **Sonic** _e_**X**_cluded_: Welcome to Knothole! Don't miss it!"

* * *


End file.
